Women's Event Eighteen Honors Janelle Monáe

On Saturday, November 7 at Capitale on the Bowery, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center hosts their Women's Event 18, an annual gala fundraiser to support The Center's year-round programs and services for lesbians, bisexual women and transgender people. The event will present recording artist Janelle Mon�e with The Center's Equality Award, producer Barbara Gaines with the Trailblazer Award and Citi's Lisa Davis with the Corporate Impact Award. There will also be a special tribute to marriage equality pioneer Edie Windsor.

"The Women's Event is definitely a jewel in the crown that we're really proud of. It's absolutely one of the most valuable events, and presents a unique opportunity for women to come together to celebrate each other," said Center Executive Director Glennda Testone. "It's important because we know that behind the scenes there is still gender inequity and sexism, and to be able to put a spotlight on women is something I look forward to every year. It seems to be getting better and better, and that's great to watch. It's become the kind of event that if you're single and LGBQ, you should come to this event."

The Center will honor international recording artist Janelle Mon�e with its Equality Award. Hundreds of guests will join The Center to applaud Mon�e's support in the fight for LGBT equality, acknowledging her immense talent, dedication to artistic expression and commitment to achieving equality for the LGBT community. Mon�e has always been an advocate of female empowerment, gender equality and LGBT rights.

"We are really excited to honor Janelle Mon�e," said Testone. "Everyone knows her as talented, Grammy-nominated artist and musician, but beyond that we know her as a civil rights leader, including LGBT equality. She has been intentionally ambiguous about her gender expression, and vocal about female empowerment and gender rights. She is a youth role model -- they look at her using her celebrity for good and standing up for people who may be marginalized."

They will also honor Gaines' leadership in the LBT community with its Trailblazer Award. In her 19 years as a producer for "Late Show with David Letterman," Gaines received 14 Emmy nominations and won five Emmy Awards for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program.

"We know that sadly Hollywood or even New York City is not a place where women are really valued at equal levels," said Testone. "Someone like Barbara who is a high-profile role model in media and has had such a successful career with Letterman is important. We hold her up and show other women what she's been able to achieve, with grace and dignity. It's wonderful for younger women to see what she's done being out and proud in this industry."

The Center will also present its Corporate Impact Award to Lisa Davis, Citi's Global Head of Enterprise Services within Treasury and Trade Solutions. Davis is responsible for the delivery of best-in-class enterprise platforms in billing, core banking and client relationship management. In addition to her responsibilities, she led the Citi PRIDE Network NYC Chapter as Co-Chair from 2011-2014 and now leads a Citi Women Emerging Talent program focused on identifying and growing the next generation of women leaders.

"Crafting the next generation of leaders including getting more women, LGBTs and people of color to the table at corporate America is the cornerstone of what Lisa is doing at Citi," said Testone. "Anecdotally, she has been very generous in helping with programs around workplace and economic opportunity, and has led sessions with mock interviews giving women practice for the real world, which is a wonderful, priceless experience for young people."

The program will also pay special tribute to Edie Windsor, of the landmark Supreme Court marriage equality case United States v. Windsor, for the historic role she has played in the fight for marriage equality.

"We honored Edie about three years ago at the Center Dinner, but never at Women's Event," explained Testone. "She has come every year for 18 years, and we wanted to do something special for her. There is a community of women who love her and get to see her at this event and say 'Thank you.'"

Testone said it's important for women in our community to have marriage equality, because it's a tool to help achieve greater equality.

"We know women make less than men, and lesbians make less than straight women, so if you're in a relationship, to be able to leverage both finances and have that be recognized by the government really does help us achieve a little more equality and protect us if something terrible happens, like a death in Edie's case, or something wonderful, like having children. Having the option is very important," she said.

Women's Event raises significant funds for The Center's innovative programming. Over the next year, The Center will launch LGBT-SAINT, a substance use treatment intervention specifically designed for LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 27. The Center will also introduce T:FIRE, a new program of support and empowerment that tackles poverty in the transgender community. In addition to these new initiatives, The Center is currently developing programming specifically for women to tackle economic attainment, a substantive issue that particularly impacts LBT women.

In addition to ticket sales, Women's Event 18 hopes to raise more than $300,000 in all, with the profits from their silent and live auction events. This year's silent auction lineup features a weeklong vacation in Costa Rica; theater tickets to shows like "Fun Home," "Sleep No More" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"; tickets to tapings of "The Tonight Show" and "The View"; courtside seats to a WNBA game; an electric guitar signed and played by Avril Lavigne; and original artwork by MacArthur Fellow Alison Bechdel. The live auction item is two tickets to Superbowl 50, including airfare and accommodations.

"The funds raised at the Women's Event support lesbian, bi and trans women," said Testone. "This year, it will help support the programs we do for Youth and Family, as well as the Lesbian Cancer Initiative, but this year we have also launched programs providing economic opportunities for women in the working world or looking to be, and in the Spring we launched in an LBT women's entrepreneur panel, which we are very excited about that panel. But so many of our programs support women."