Welcome to our 2020 Virtual Gay City News Impact Awards,
congratulations to all of this evening’s honorees, and thanks to all of you
joining us to show your support and appreciation for the contributions
our awardees are making day in and day out.
I would like to briefly address what this event means to me. 2020 has
proven to be an even more challenging year than any of us imagined
it would be back in January.
In addition to the crucial importance of the election coming up on
November 3, we have been facing down a terrifying virus that has
robbed each of us of friends and family we cherished — and has put
particularly unfair burdens on our heroic frontline healthcare workers,
other essential workers who did not have the luxury of sheltering in
their homes during the worst days of the crisis, and communities of
color, including LGBTQ folks, across the city where infections and
deaths hit hardest.
This year, we have also undergone a long overdue reckoning on the
racial — and social and economic — disparities that continue to exist
in a society with extraordinary affluence and one that lays claims to the
guiding principles of equality, justice, and opportunity for all.
Tonight, we gather to honor a group of New Yorkers whose work
every day is aimed at moving our community and our country in a
positive direction. So we are here to celebrate:
The diversity in our backgrounds and our approaches to creating
change;
The resilience of our honorees in the face of obstacles;
Their passion and commitment to imagine and continue working
toward a better tomorrow;
And our collective unity — the recognition that despite our differences
and the various paths we have chosen in life, we are working in
coalition and cooperation to make 2021 a better year than 2020.
Over the next six weeks as we approach the November election, our
greatest challenge will be to keep focused on that last strength — our
unity. If we and our likeminded friends, family, and allies across the
US remain united — and we all pitch in, especially in online activism
focused on critical swing states — we can move through this uncertain
time and arrive on the other side better off for our struggle. Our
honorees tonight are critical players in leading us to the other side.
Please enjoy the evening, and let’s all stay focused in the weeks to
come.
Gay City News Impact Awards 2020 3
Paul Schindler
Editor-in-Chief
Gay City News