IMPACT AWARDS
Honorees Stand Out at Gay City News Impact Awards
Annual event recognizes dozens of difference-makers across the city
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
More than two dozen
LGBTQ leaders and
allies who have made
a difference in the
community were honored during a
virtual edition of the sixth annual
Gay City News Impact Awards on
November 11.
Gay City News recognized 28
honorees hailing from a wide
range of diverse backgrounds and
careers. During opening remarks
for the Zoom ceremony, Gay City
News editor-in-chief Matt Tracy
touted the awardees as changemakers
who have used their roles
to advance LGBTQ rights.
“In times of adversity, many of
the honorees you will hear from tonight
are essential in empowering
our community,” Tracy said. “They
include activists, artists, doctors,
and others who are active in our
community.”
Gay City News founding editor
Paul Schindler, who retired from
his role as editor-in-chief at the
end of last year, served as emcee
for the event.
“This is the sixth annual Impact
Awards, and over half a dozen
years we’ve had the opportunity
to honor excellence across a wide
range of fi elds by people who, day
in and day out, contribute to the
well-being and advancement of
New York’s LGBTQ community,”
Schindler said during the live
broadcast.
The Impact Awards show featured
presentations of awards as
well as acceptance speeches from
honorees. The event followed a
cocktail reception for honorees
last month at the penthouse at the
Ravel Hotel in Long Island City,
Queens, which gave Impact Award
winners a chance to gather together
in person. At that event, Schindler
received a plaque engraved with
the GCN logo in commemoration of
his decades of service to Gay City
News and LGBTQ journalism.
MetroPlus Health served as the
presenting partner of the Gay City
News Impact Awards, while TD
Bank, Amida Care, Breed Evolution
Some of the 2021 Gay City News Impact Award honorees with the Gay City News team at a special cocktail reception in October.
Corp, Tusk Strategies, and the
East Midtown Partnership were
also sponsors.
Among the Impact Award recipients
were Liz Abzug — whose
mother, the late Congressmember
Bella Abzug, introduced the fi rst
version of the Equality Act in 1974.
Abzug focused her acceptance
speech on mobilizing the community
to pass the long-stalled LGBTQ
non-discrimination legislation
once and for all.
“Here we are, 50 years later and
that act has failed to pass the Congress,”
Abzug said. “I would ask
you to press your congresspeople,
to tell them that we want this law
passed.”
Award winners also included
those who work in the medical fi eld.
Dr. Jess Ting, a gender-affi rming
surgeon at Mount Sinai’s Center for
Transgender Medicine and Surgery
(CTMS), has performed more than
2,000 gender-affi rming surgeries
on trans, non-binary, and intersex
patients. He said during his acceptance
speech that he was proud
to receive the award and have his
work highlighted alongside a slate
of powerful advocates.
“It feels great to have our work at
the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender
Medicine and Surgery honored
in this fashion,” Ting said. “It
is a team effort.
Elisa Crespo, the executive director
of the LGBTQ statewide advocacy
group New Pride Agenda,
used her speech to pay tribute to
LGBTQ incarcerated individuals.
“I’m accepting this award on behalf
of all the incarcerated transgender
people, intersex, and nonbinary
people across the state of
New York,” she said. “We are fi ghting
for you, and we see you.”
TS Candii, the founder of Black
Trans Nation, thanked Gay City
News for giving her a platform to
amplify the concerns of the LGBTQ
community.
“It means a lot to me,” TS Candii
said. “It tells me to keep my head
up, my heart open, and to continue
DONNA ACETO
to fi ght…Thank you again, Gay
City News, for acknowledging the
hard work and not overlooking or
underestimating the power of the
Black trans community.”
Stephanie M. Frierson, a registered
nurse at Brooklyn Plaza Medical
Center (Rising Heights), said her
award inspires her to keep fi ghting
for her most vulnerable patients.
“I’m extremely humbled by receiving
this award,” Frierson said.
“I will continue to use my platform
to continue to work toward health
equity for all serving all persons
regardless of sexual orientation,
gender, race, and/or socioeconomic
status.”
Alexander Roque, the president
and executive director of the Ali
Forney Center, which serves homeless
LGBTQ youth, pointed to the
urgent need to uplift homeless LGBTQ
youth.
“The work we do at the Ali Forney
Center every year is to protect
➤ IMPACT AWARDS, continued on p.19
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