This past Saturday night, I was invited to the 35th Anniversary L.A. Annual Gay & Lesbian Center Gala at the Hyatt Regency Century City Plaza Hotel. I was asked to give a speech and present the Corporate Vision Award to the Bravo Network.
Attendees included Vice President of Production and Programming, Andy Cohen (who accepted the award), "Project Runway" Season 3 designer Robert Best, Season 2 designer Raymundo Baltazar and actor and activist, Wilson Cruz, who gave an emotional and inspiring speech for the Distiguished Achievement Award he received. You can see us in the photo 
, posing with the president of the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, Lorri L. Jean. Also present at the Gala was the entire cast of Bravo's "Workout" (who were being filmed for Season 2 of the show) as well as the lovely Betty Fraser, one of my favorite chefs from "Top Chef".There was also a accompanying auction with hundreds of items up for the guests to bid on , from trips to Argentina, Mexico and New York (we bid on the last one, but lost) to training sessions, beauty product packages, jewelry, and even a visit to the set of "Desperate Housewives". I also put bids on a very modern CD Stereo. We kept on playing "bidding wars" with one person the whole time. I even bitched out loud who this other person was who did not want me, under any circumstances, to get the stereo. David then whispered in my ear that the guy was standing right behind me, eyeing "his" stereo like a hawk! I walked away , giving him a dirty look of "It's YOURS!!" I never had bid on any auction of any kind and wanted to go home with my own X-mas present--or at least one for David's upcoming Birthday. Ah well, we had a fun time with the bidding war anyway and enjoyed the drama of it all!!
I also donated a disposable camera, in which I took photos from my recent trip to Palm Springs (more on that in a later post) as well as to the Los Angeles' Ovation Awards. I am sad to say that no one bid on it. I later told David that we should have bid on it, so I could get the camera (and film) back! I also donated an exclusive illustration I did of my "My Scene Barbie" outfit. Someone (Thank God) did bid for this and I believe the sketch went for $150. All for a good cause of course.
The event itself was filled with poignant as well as lots of funny moments. Drag Diva extraordinaire,
Miss Coco Peru was the emcee and she did an amazing job. She even did a kick-up your heels ode to Chorus Line with her sexy back-up dancers. Ever since I first saw her perform about 10 years ago in NY's Barracuda, I have been a fan of Miss Coco. The Bravo Award was the first of the evening so my presentation and speech was one of the first. I was a bit nervous but thankful that it was out of the way, and then I could enjoy the show..jpg)
Actress and Icon, Lesley Anne Warren was also a special guest, sitting on Miss Coco's "couch" for an interview. At the end of the night, I posed with her for photos.