April 25, 2022• byMichael Strangeways

LGBTQ Elders will be honored next month with the PILLARS OF PRIDE event scheduled to happen on Sunday, May 15th at Century Ballroom on Capitol Hill. It’s a big fundraising opportunity for the fine folks at GenPride to help them raise $5m as their part of the financial package to build PRIDE PLACE, the exciting new LGBTQ+ Senior Housing and Center that just started construction on Broadway nextdoor to Neighbours Night Club.

GenPride plans on making this an annual event as a fundraising tool but also to honor the contributions of LGBTQ community members who have long served our communities as leaders and advocates. It’s also a way to get the word out about GenPride’s many programs for older community members (check out those programs at their website here) while also networking with other members of the community and potential donors.

And, for the first year, GenPride sought out nominations from the community on who to honor and three have been chosen for the inaugural awards…so far. More will be named in the coming days….though I’m guessing the other three to be named are featured in the above graphic….

They are:

Breanna Anderson

In 1990, after growing up a dutiful son in an conservative Christian home, Breanna exploded out of the closet and into a community she had no idea even existed up to that time. Waiting for her was community and support at Ingersoll Gender Center. The support groups and information helped Breanna to fully embrace and actualize her identity as a woman and for that she is eternally grateful. She immediately engaged to return the favor by joining the peer facilitators that have always been the heart of Ingersoll’s support.

Louise Chernin

Louise began her involvement with GSBA in the 1990s and was appointed President & CEO in 2002, a role she served in until retiring at the end of 2020. Through her tenure, Louise led GSBA to become the largest LGBTQ+ chamber in North America.

Peter Shalit

Dr. Shalit was born in New York City and raised in New Jersey and Massachusetts. He went to college at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, then moved to Seattle where he obtained his Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Washington in 1981. Realizing in his mid-twenties that he wanted to be a physician, he enrolled in the University of Washington Medical School, from which he graduated in 1985. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington in 1989. His involvement in HIV care started in the early 1980s while still in medical school.

Tickets for the event are available at: https://genprideseattle.org/event/popevent/

Entertainment to be provided by The Supertonics, an ensemble of the Seattle Men’s Chorus and Seattle Women’s Chorus.

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About the Author: Michael Strangeways

As the Editorial Director/Co-Owner, Michael Strangeways writes, edits and does about a million other jobs for Seattle Gay Scene, Puget Sound's most visited LGBTQ news, arts and entertainment website now celebrating its 14th year as a media outlet. A semi-proud Midwesterner by birth, he's lived in Seattle since 2000. He's also a film producer who would like you to check out the Jinkx Monsoon documentary, "Drag Becomes Him" now available on Amazon.com. In his spare time, he gets slightly obsessive about his love for old movies, challenging theater, "otters", vodka, chocolate, "I,Claudius", Lizzie Borden, real books made out of paper, disaster films, show tunes, Weimar era Germany, flea markets, pop surrealistic art, the sex lives of Hollywood actors both living and dead, kitties, chicken fried steak, haute couture and David Bowie. But, not necessarily in that order.