Rainbow Key Awards Recognize 2024 Honorees

The City of West Hollywood and its LGBTQ+ Commission will host the City’s annual Rainbow Key Awards ceremony on Saturday, January 18, 2025 at 6 p.m. at the City of West Hollywood’s Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. The awards ceremony will immediately be followed by a reception at the West Hollywood Park Aquatic and Recreation Center Respite Deck, adjacent to the City’s Council Chambers. The Rainbow Key Awards recognize people and groups who have made outstanding contributions to the LGBTQ+ community. Additional information for this free event, including RSVP details, are available by visiting www.weho.org/rainbowkey.

For those unable to attend, the Rainbow Key Awards ceremony will be viewable by live-broadcast on Spectrum’s Channel 10 within West Hollywood, by visiting the City of West Hollywood’s website at www.weho.org/wehotv, or by visiting the City’s WeHoTV YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/wehotv. In addition, the ceremony can also be viewed on Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, and Roku streaming platforms by searching “WeHoTV” within the search functions of these services.

Every year, the City’s LGBTQ+ Commission selects nominees from a public process. This year’s Rainbow Key Awards ceremony will recognize the 2024 awardees that were selected by the LGBTQ+ Commission. These honorees are:

• Jackie Beat, a drag superstar who has been entertaining audiences across the U.S. and Europe for more than 35 years. Beat is known for her razor-sharp comedy and hysterical song parodies. Apart from her live tours, she has also worked in the film and television industry and has often used her talents to raise money for HIV and AIDS charities and other organizations supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
• Dapper Dyke Vivian Escalante, a driving force in lesbian activism, is renowned for establishing Dykes on Bikes in both West Hollywood and Long Beach. Her contributions to the visibility and empowerment of the lesbian community during a time of limited representation are truly remarkable.
• Dr. Rebecca Gitlin, served as the first LGBTQ+ Services Specialist within the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH)’s Anti-Racism, Inclusion, Solidary, and Empowerment (ARISE) Division, and she now serves as a clinical supervisor at the LACDMH Hollywood Mental Health Cooperative. She has led efforts to ensure that both identity and gender-affirming services are included across all services provided within LACDMH.
• LZ Love, a legendary African American transwoman singer, who for decades has been entertaining audiences across the world with her gutbucket soul-stirring blues and her blues-saturated gospel and dance music. She began singing when she was very young, and, at the age of sixteen, was even a background vocalist for the late Great Disco Diva Sylvester. LZ has in the past performed at the City of West Hollywood’s annual Transgender Day of Remembrance Ceremony and has also performed at countless LGBTQ+ Pride events across the nation.
• Brian Sonia-Wallace, the founder of Pride Poets, the band of LGBTQ+ typewriter poets who have collectively written thousands of free custom poems at West Hollywood Pride events and beyond since 2019, giving the community a chance to have their stories of love, loss, and celebration honored through poetry. Brian served as the City of West Hollywood Poet Laureate from 2020-2023, creating space for hundreds of LGBTQ+ writers to express themselves and build community through the APLA Writers’ Workshop, The Mic @ Micky’s, and the West Hollywood Slam Team.

The City of West Hollywood has, since 1993, presented Rainbow Key Awards to people and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the LGBTQ+ community. Previous honorees have included activists, artists, civic leaders, educators, community organizations, and many others. Contributions, whether by an individual or a group, may be in many forms, including the arts, community action, humanitarian action, sports, medicine, armed services, leadership potential, benefit to the global LGBTQ+ community, or in other ways. More than 180 Rainbow Key Awards have been presented since the award’s inception. A complete list of past honorees is available on the City’s website.

Since incorporation in 1984, the City of West Hollywood has become one of the most influential cities in the nation for its outspoken advocacy on LGBTQ+ issues. No other city of its size has had a greater impact on the national public policy discourse on fairness and inclusiveness for LGBTQ+ people. More than 40 percent of residents in West Hollywood identify as LGBTQ+ and the City has advocated for four decades for measures to support LGBTQ+ individuals and has been in the vanguard on efforts to gain and protect equality for all people on a state, national, and international level.

For additional information about the Rainbow Key Awards, please contact Moya Márquez, City of West Hollywood Community Programs Coordinator, at (323) 848-6574 or at [email protected], or visit www.weho.org/rainbowkey.