National LGBTQ Task Force Gala – Miami
The Task Force Recognition events were started in 1990 and they took place in Washington DC, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Miami.
We created these dinners to pay tribute to the community leaders, allies, and organizations that fight for LGBTQ people through their leadership, advocacy, and action. Past honorees included Bella Abzug, Ted Kennedy, Coretta Scott King, Equality Fairfax, Margaret Cho, John Waters, and Tammy Baldwin.
Now the only annual dinner that we hold is the National LGBTQ Task Force Gala – Miami, which we’ve been doing since 2004. If we do say so ourselves (but we’re sure our attendees would agree with us), the Gala is South Florida’s leading annual celebration/event. People we’ve honored at the Gala have included Lt. Dan Choi, Ilene Chaiken, Julian Bond, and former Star Trek favorite, George Takei. In 2006, Former President Bill Clinton even stopped by for a visit!
In addition to honoring our community’s heroes, this South Florida tradition also provides an essential source of funding to the local community. A portion of the net proceeds from the Dinner is donated to the South Florida LGBT community through a grant process administered by the GLBT Community Projects Fund of The Miami Foundation. So far organizations, including ACLU Foundation of Florida, Aqua Foundation for Women, Reading Queer, Miami Beach Gay Pride, South Beach AIDS Project and GLSEN South Florida, Inc., have received grants totaling more than $1.85 million.
Learn More About the Task Force Gala – Miami