Speaker, awardees announced for Triangle dinner

DETROIT – U.S. Rep. Carl M. Sciortino Jr., D – Mass., will present the keynote address at the 12th annual Triangle Foundation Dinner Event Sept. 30, Triangle recently announced. The openly-gay congressman narrowly won election to the House in 2004.
"Carl Sciortino exemplifies gay people who stand up to change a system," said Jeffrey Montgomery, Triangle's executive director. "His victory is testament to the power of grassroots LGBT political energy."
Sciortino was angered by his representative's vote in favor of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and sought to unseat him. He mounted a broad-based campaign that focused on education, health care and tax concerns.
A member of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Organization for Women and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Sciortino has declared his support for trans-inclusive hate crime and non-discrimination amendments.
Catalyst Award winners this year include the Rev. Beth Rakestraw, a Metropolitan Community Church pastor who is also the vice-chair of Perceptions, a non-profit community organization that offers educational, social and networking opportunities for residents of the Tri-Cities (Midland, Bay City and Saginaw); John Burchett, chief of staff for Gov. Jennifer Granholm; the Motor City Bears, a social club with a long history of fundraising for LGBT causes; the Ruth Ellis Center, an organization that provides short- and long-term residential safe space and support services for runaway, homeless and at-risk LGBT youth; and Keweenaw Pride, Michigan Tech's LGBT student group.
"Our awardees represent our commitments to building community, local activism, rising to positions of real, positive institutional influence, and to protecting and providing safety to our young people," Montgomery said.
This year's dinner will take place at the Ford Conference and Event Center in Dearborn. The evening begins at 5 p.m. with a cocktail reception presented by Paramount Bank. At 7 p.m., dinner, which will be catered by Opus One, will be served in the Great Hall.
Other highlights of the evening include a silent auction, where guests can bid on such items as a two-night stay at the luxurious Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island and a VIP ticket package to the Detroit Lions.
Co-chairs for the evening will be state Rep. Chris Kolb, D – Ann Arbor, Michigan's first-ever openly gay legislator, and Christine Solie, communications director for Ford Motor Credit and a rising star in the community who was active in the battle to defeat Proposal 2.
For more information, call (313) 537-3323 or visit www.tri.org