Diverse & Resilient Announces 2016 Leadership Awards

January 25, 2016

Diverse & Resilient has selected five leaders as recipients of its 2016 LGBTQ leadership awards. These individuals and organizations have demonstrated leadership in improving the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the state of Wisconsin.

This year’s leadership award recipients include:

Bayard Rustin Award – Brenda Coley
Be Y.O.U. Youth Leadership Award – Shannon Romero
Gary Hollander Adult Leadership Award – Broderick Pearson
LGBTQ Ally Award – Irmine Reitl
Community Partner Award – The Milwaukee LGBT Community Center

Bayard Rustin, the event’s namesake, was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement. Rustin was a mentor and adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the chief organizer of the historic 1963 March on Washington. Rustin had to work behind the scenes because he was an openly gay man in a deeply hostile era. The Bayard Rustin Award honors his legacy of working behind the scenes to improve people’s lives through social justice.

The awards will be presented at Reviving the Dream, Diverse & Resilient’s signature event that honors the legacy of Bayard Rustin. The event will be held on April 7, 2016 at Milwaukee Marriott Downtown. In addition to presentation of the leadership awards, the event will include mingling, activities, and a plated dinner.

Please join us in congratulating the 2016 awardees, each of whom is making a difference for LGBTQ people in Wisconsin.

For more information about the 4th Annual Reviving the Dream Celebration, click here.