Awardees (by year)
Our 2007 Awards
The Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno
An Episcopal priest in various settings for the past 30 years and has long been a champion of gay and lesbian people.
The Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno
The Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno has served as an Episcopal priest in various settings for the past 30 years. He is currently Bishop of the six-county Diocese of Los Angeles and has been widely acclaimed for his principled leadership on social justice issues. He has long been a champion of gay and lesbian people and their right to conduct civil unions and to openly seek ordination as priests, a stance that has been met by tremendous controversy in many quarters of the 70-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion. In 2006, Bishop Bruno was recognized by the Progressive Christians Uniting for his many contributions to fostering human rights and the dignity of all peoples. The Bishop also sits on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Good Samaritan Hospital, and the Episcopal Housing Alliance. “It is our obligation to bring about opportunities for peace, responsible stewardship and reconciliation,” says Bishop Bruno. “To cultivate peace means we must be culturally competent people who teach tolerance and enact justice. We need to work together in this world, to be reconciled one to another, and we need to love each other in the name of God.”
Mike Jones
American model and sex worker, Jones made headlines when he outed a client of his, the homophobic evangelical Rev. Ted Haggard.
Mike Jones
The Monette-Horwitz Trust grants its first Activism Award to Mike Jones, American model and sex worker. Jones made headlines when he outed a client of his, the homophobic evangelical Rev. Ted Haggard, chief bully of the New Life Church of Colorado Springs, CO (membership of 14,000), and president of the National Association of Evangelicals (membership of 30,000,000). Mike Jones went on the radio and spoke of his monthly sessions with Haggard over the past three years.
Haggard usually paid Jones $200 for sex, which included Haggard performing fellatio on Jones. Haggard also confided to Jones of his kinky fantasies and his methamphetamine use. Haggard had rallied millions of Americans to vote for Bush, and had incited them for years to work against gay Americans. On November 5, 2006, Haggard said, “I am a deceiver and a liar. The fact is I am guilty of sexual immorality…There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I’ve been warring against it all of my adult life.”
Jones said of his act of heroism, “I had to expose the hypocrisy. He is in the position of influence of millions of followers, and he’s preaching against gay marriage. But behind everybody’s back [he’s] doing what he’s preached against.”
Terry DeCrescenzo
Founded GLASS (Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services) as the first milieu-based residential treatment program for gay and lesbian teens in the country.
Terry DeCrescenzo
Terry DeCrescenzo is a graduate of USC Graduate School of Social Work (MSW, 1978), which honored her with its most Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1991. After 15 years on the staff of the Dorothy Kirby Center, she founded GLASS (Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services) as the first milieu-based residential treatment program for gay and lesbian teens in the country. Today, GLASS has an annual budget in excess of 10 million dollars, with a staff numbering more than 150, and a nearly seamless delivery system for GLBT youth and their families. DeCrescenzo received the NASW Social Worker of the Year award in 1990. Her ground-breaking work was further recognized by NASW in 1995, with the Koshland Award for Outstanding Administrator. In 2005, she was given the “Pioneer Award” by the Child Welfare League of America. DeCrescenzo has also remained heavily involved in gay and lesbian community activism over the years, and currently sits on the Board of Directors of The Lambda Literary Foundation. [f]
Kevin Jennings
Best known for his work creating safe schools for LGBT students.
Kevin Jennings
Kevin Jennings, author of the 2006 memoir, Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son, is best known for his work creating safe schools for LGBT students. In 1988, Jennings helped establish the nation’s first Gay-Straight Alliance for students, and in 1990 he founded GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) to bring together teachers, parents, students, and community members to end anti-LGBT bias in schools. Under his guidance, GLSEN has become a national education and civil rights organization with a presence in all 50 states. Newsweek named him one of a hundred people to watch in the new century. The author of One Teacher in Ten and Always My Child, Jennings also wrote and produced the historical documentary Out of the Past, which won the 1998 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for Best Documentary. https://www.glsen.org [f] [f]
Stuart Timmons
Author, Journalist, he has covered gay politics and culture from theater to AIDS, as well as reported on education, environmental, and other topics.
Stuart Timmons
1957-2017, co-author (with Lillian Faderman) of the highly acclaimed 2006 history book, Gay L.A. His previous book, The Trouble with Harry Hay, a biography of the gay movement’s founding figure, also chronicled a century of gay life in Los Angeles and became a Book of the Month Club selection. He has covered gay politics and culture from theater to AIDS, as well as reported on education, environmental, and other topics. His journalism has appeared in publications such as LA Weekly, The Advocate, Vibe, and Spin and his short stories have been published in various anthologies. Timmons is continuing his work researching gay lives in the Southland for a new book. [f]
Ex-GayWatch.com
A wide-ranging and comprehensive website, it has become an on-line community for survivors of the “ex-gay” movement.
Ex-GayWatch.com
The “ex-gay” movement is highly controversial and highly publicized. To counter its power and reach – and to monitor its activities – the good folks at Ex-Gay Watch have established a wide-ranging and comprehensive website. It has become an on-line community for survivors of the “ex-gay” movement as well as a clearing house for related links, blogs, and the general dissemination of information about one of the most suspect and potentially damaging enemies of LGBTQ people.
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Paul Monette papers, 1945-1995
UCLA, Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library