Michelle DuBarry, Boyd Kodak,
and the Honourable late Jack Layton receive the
INSPIRE AWARDS
LGBTQ Lifetime Achievement Awards
October 26th, 2011 (Toronto, ON) – Last evening October 25th, 2011, the board of directors of the INSPIRE AWARDS Corporation had their board meeting to vote on who will be the recipients of the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Awards.
With the advice of the INSPIRE AWARDS Nominations & Procedures Committee and based on suggestions that were open to the LGBTQ community to guide the organization on who they would like to see the awards go to, the partners and board of directors reached the decision to honour for 2011 the following individuals:
Lifetime Achievement Award: Russell Alldread a.k.a Michelle DuBarry. Michelle DuBarry is a drag legend in the LGBTQ community and a pioneer of the art form at a time when it was frowned upon, and one who had spent many decades of helping, fundraising and doing great work in the community. At 80 years old he is still going strong.
Lifetime Achievement Award: Boyd Kodak a.k.a Jan Waterman. Boyd is a transsexual activist and is integral in the history of fighting discrimination in the work place. Before Jan transitioned to Boyd she fought and won a precedent setting that made it illegal to discriminate against LGBTQ people at work. Jan transitioned to Boyd in the 90s and continues to work very hard on issues relating to transsexual rights.
Special Honourary Lifetime Achievement Award: Honourable late Jack Layton for his long time support of LGBTQ people and championing many of the community's causes since his election to Toronto City Council in 1982 and throughout his entire career. Jack was a friend of the community and it's an honour to be able to thank him for the work.
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INSPIRE AWARDS presents A Lifetime of Achievement awards ceremony will take place on December 14th 2011 at the Courtyard by Marriot downtown Toronto, between 6 and 10 pm, and will be attended by a few hundred members of the LGBTQ community and allies, the honourees Russell Alldread and Boyd Kodak, and members of late Jack Layton's family.
Tickets for the event will be available early November at www.inspireawards.ca
Join us in celebrating the achievements of all the nominees of the 2011 Inspire Awards, and congratulating the winners.
LGBTQ Person of the Year - Pride co Grand Marshal Michael Bach
LGBTQ Youth of the Year - Pride co Grand Marshal Leanne Iskander.
LGBTQ Positive Business of the Year -
Pride co Honoured Group Sacred Quest.
Inspiring Community Organization of the Year -
Pride co Honoured Group Fife House.
Let there be cake.
RHV Team at Casa Loma: Richelle, Liz, Richard
Casa Loma pretty in pink.
The Inspire Awards are proudly presented by
Pink Play Mags & The Pink Pages Directory in partnership with...
Pride Toronto
PFLAG Canada (PFLAG Toronto, Durham Region PFLAG, York Region PFLAG)
Pride Durham
Rainbow High Vacations
Deb Pearce (foQus with Deb Pearce)
PositiveLite.com
Club 717
Here is why Rainbow High Vacations is a proud partner in the Inspire Awards
