West Hollywood’s annual Rainbow Key Awards ceremony is back for another year. The event will be held Saturday, April 11, 2026, at the Silver Screen Theatre inside the Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue. The reception begins at 4 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony at 5 p.m.
Admission is free and open to the public. RSVPs are strongly encouraged. The RSVP link and event details are at weho.org/rainbowkey.
The City of West Hollywood established the Rainbow Key Awards in 1993 to recognize people and organizations that have made significant contributions to the LGBTQ+ community. West Hollywood created the awards the same year it adopted its first LGBTQ+ Strategic Plan. More than 180 awards have been presented over three decades. Honorees are selected annually by the City’s LGBTQ+ Commission through a public nomination process. Past recipients include advocates, artists, businesses, nonprofits, and community leaders who have shaped LGBTQ+ life in West Hollywood and beyond.
This year’s ceremony honors seven awardees selected in 2025.
Cake and Art
Cake and Art, the West Hollywood bakery founded in 1976 — older than the City itself — is among this year’s honorees. The bakery spent years making commitment ceremony cakes for same-sex couples before marriage equality became law. When same-sex marriage was legalized in 2015, Cake and Art sold cupcakes to go for couples heading to West Hollywood Park to marry at the City’s satellite marriage license office.
Fan Girl Cafe
Fan Girl Cafe, founded by Betsy Martinez and Cynthia Temblador, is recognized for becoming a gathering place for the queer community — particularly the lesbian and sapphic community — offering food, drinks, music merch, poetry readings, stand-up comedy, and album sing-alongs.
Abdullah “Abby” Hall
Abdullah “Abby” Hall, Artistic Director of the Trans Chorus of Los Angeles, is honored for his leadership of a choral organization that performs at LGBTQ+ events throughout West Hollywood and beyond. Through Hall’s direction, the Chorus gives trans and gender-expansive people visibility and a platform to be seen and heard.
Tristan Schukraft
Tristan Schukraft is recognized as owner of The Abbey Food & Bar and The Chapel, and as founder and CEO of MISTR, described by the City as the nation’s largest telemedicine platform for HIV prevention and long-term care. MISTR provides free PrEP, DoxyPEP, and HIV treatment to more than 700,000 patients across all 50 states.
Trudging Buddies
Trudging Buddies, a predominantly LGBTQ+-led nonprofit focused on queer people in recovery from addiction, reaches more than 300 individuals annually and has raised more than $4.3 million through AIDS/LifeCycle participation since 2013.
Melissa Etheridge Award: Angela Brinskele
Angela Brinskele will receive the Melissa Etheridge Award, given to an individual who has advanced visibility of the lesbian and queer women’s community through arts, culture, or entertainment. Brinskele is a longtime activist and professional photographer who has documented the LGBTQ+ community for decades and currently serves as head of Marketing and Donor Engagement at the Mazer Archives.
Audre Lorde Activist Award: Jaymes Black
Jaymes Black will receive the Audre Lorde Activist Award. Black is the first Black, nonbinary CEO of The Trevor Project, which was founded in West Hollywood in 1998. Under Black’s leadership, the organization has expanded free 24/7 crisis services for LGBTQ+ youth and launched new research and advocacy initiatives.
In a statement, the City said the awards “carry particular weight in 2026” as LGBTQ+ communities “face renewed political attacks and erasure efforts at the federal level.” The City called West Hollywood’s recognition of honorees “more than ceremonial,” a statement that LGBTQ+ people are valued, visible, and essential to this community.
For information, contact Moya Márquez at (323) 848-6574 or mmarquez@weho.org.
