GLAA Announces Annual Distinguished Service Awards
The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, DC is pleased to announce its annual Distinguished Service Awards for 2001. GLAA presents awards to local community members and organizations committed to protecting the civil rights of lesbians and gay men in the Nation's Capital.
The 2001 Distinguished Service Award recipients are Councilmember Sharon Ambrose, The Bridge Builders Fund, Councilmember Jack Evans, Federal GLOBE, Morgan McDonald, and Karen Pettapiece.
The awards will be presented at GLAA's 30th Anniversary Reception at the Jurys Washington Hotel on Dupont Circle on Thursday, April 19, 2001.
Councilmember Sharon Ambrose has for decades been a friend to the gay community and a reliable legislative source, dating back to her service as a staff member to Councilmembers Betty Ann Kane and John Ray. Since her election to the Council, she has been a strong ally in reform efforts on public safety and regulatory matters. Most recently she led a two-year process in shepherding the massive ABC reform bill to passage, braving a storm of controversy by anti-choice forces on the nude dancing issue and working with her colleagues and GLAA to fashion an effective compromise. Years ago, after an assault by Marines on patrons of Remington's on Capitol Hill, she coordinated investigation efforts with the police and the commandant of the Marine Barracks and worked with GLOV on victim assistance. In the Southeast nightclub zone she worked with police and the Department of Public Works to resolve traffic flow problems and to improve communication between the business owners and government officials.
The Bridge Builders Fund is a grantmaking fund whose mission is to promote communication, understanding and appreciation between the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities and the straight community in the Washington metropolitan region. The goal of The Bridge Builders Fund is to fund efforts that creatively and diligently work to break down these divisive barriers in the Washington metropolitan region. A variety of local churches and synagogues, schools, workplaces and other institutions are actively seeking ways to foster mutual respect and full integration of lesbian/gay people into their communities.
Councilmember Jack Evans is the longest serving friend of the gay community on the DC Council. Jack was instrumental in passage of the sodomy law reform bill, the Hate Crimes bill, the Domestic Partnership bill, AIDS funding, Needle Exchange, re-establishing citizen complaint review, and countless other legislative endeavors over a decade on the Council.
Federal GLOBE seeks to eliminate prejudice and discrimination in the federal government based on sexual orientation by developing and providing educational programs, materials, and assistance mechanisms which address the distinctive concerns and problems of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals in the federal government and educating the general public, policy makers, and federal employees about issues of concern to lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals.
Morgan McDonald has been a GLAA volunteer for several decades. For more than 20 years he has sponsored a fundraiser for GLAA on St. Patrick's Day and served several terms as Secretary. Morgan works for the Catholic University Counseling Center and has provided many years of assistance to the members of the gay student group at Catholic University.
Karen Pettapiece has spent the past four years as the Police Sensitivity and Diversity Trainer for Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence. She has become our community's expert at sensitivity training of the police. In addition to spending six years in the Army and 4 years at Georgetown University as a Campus Police Officer, she is currently in her second year of law school at the University of Baltimore. Much of the work on police training simply could not have occurred in the past several years without Karen's dedication and hard work.
A list of previous award winners can be found on the GLAA web site at http://www.glaa.org/resources/awardshistory.shtml.
Founded in 1971, the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington (GLAA) is an all-volunteer, non-partisan, non-profit political organization designed to lead the struggle in protecting the civil rights of lesbians and gay men in the Nation's Capital by lobbying the D.C. Council, monitoring government agencies, educating and rating local candidates, and working in coalitions to defend the safety, health, and equal rights of gay families. GLAA remains the nation's oldest continuously active gay and lesbian civil rights organization.