New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. with honorees and co-sponsors at his 2008 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Pride celebration at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in Manhattan on Wednesday, June 4, 2008. Pictured (back, l to r) are: Glenn D. Magpantay, Staff Attorney, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund; Karen Pearl, President & CEO, God’s Love We Deliver; Thompson; Arthur Aviles, Artistic Director, BAAD! (Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance) Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre; Reverend Cari Jackson, Interim Senior Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn; (front, l to r) Jennifer E. Brown, Principal, Jennifer Brown Consultants; Daniel Tietz, Executive Director, AIDS Community Research Initiative of America; and, Nan D. Hunter, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School.  Photo Credit: Marla S. Maritzer View Slideshow

New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. honored six New Yorkers at his seventh annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Celebration on Wednesday, June 3rd. The event was co-sponsored by the Empire State Pride Agenda, Gay Men’s Health Crisis and God’s Love We Deliver.

“As I stand before you today I sense the progress we are making through persistent and consistent incremental change,” Thompson said at the event at the LGBT Community Center. “Because of your persistence, we are going forward.”

Thompson applauded Governor Paterson’s recent order that all State agencies recognize same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions.

“Same sex couples in committed relationships should benefit from the same rights and legal productions as heterosexual couples,” Thompson said. “I am hopeful that our State legislators will welcome this move by opening the door to further change in our own laws so that all New Yorkers can feel free to live and love as they wish.”

You can view photos of the event at www.comptroller.nyc.gov. For photographs, contact Marla Maritzer a (212) 669-2597 or mmaritz@comptroller.nyc.gov. The Lavender Light Gospel Choir performed at the event.

Thompson presented Arthur Aviles, founder of the Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance and the Arthur Aviles Typical Theater, with his Creative Artist Image Award.

“Arthur Aviles has enriched our city and the larger world with his artistry and through his training of countless dancers,” Thompson said. “His bold choreography celebrates the ability of the human form to make a statement while exploring the personal connection between a performer and his audience.”

Community and business leader Jennifer Brown received the Distinguished Service Award. Her company, Jennifer Brown Consulting, works with companies seeking leadership, communication and diversity consulting. Brown is also the co-director of the Out & Equal Metro New York regional affiliate, a group dedicated to creating educational and networking events to advance the cause of LGBT equality in the workplace.

In that role, Thompson said, “she has been a forceful champion for the expansion of leadership opportunities for LGBT employees.”

The third honoree was Professor Nan Hunter, who founded and became the first Director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian and Gay Rights and AIDS Project in 1986. She also has helped to clarify the rights of the LGBT communities with respect to freedom of speech and association, employment, housing, the military, family and parenting, and HIV disease.

Nan Hunter has devoted a considerable portion of her career and expertise to helping lesbians, gays, bisexuals and people of transgender experience understand their rights under the law,” Thompson said.

What are the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and people of transgender experience under present law? Since founding and becoming the first Director of the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights and AIDS Projects in 1986, Nan Hunter has devoted a considerable portion of her career and expertise to making the answers to that question readily available and easily understood to those in the LGBT community.

Glenn Magpantay, staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, received the next award. Magpantay directs AALDEF’s program areas in census in voting rights, and has spoken to more than 2,000 Asian Americans about the importance of standing up and being counted.

“Magpantay’s track record is one of commitment to cause and community,” Thompson said.

The final honoree of the evening was health advocate and community leader Daniel Tietz.

“During the two years that Daniel Tietz has served as Executive Director of the AIDS Community Research Initiative, America has witnessed the emergence of the agency as a national leader in the area of middle-aged and older adults with HIV,” Thompson said.

As a result of his 2006 groundbreaking study, Research on Older Adults with HIV, Tietz raised awareness of this growing population and launched a major drive to bring much-needed HIV prevention, education and services to people over the age of 50.

###