MA Commission on LGBTQ Youth celebrates with Harlem Renaissance Annual Gayla
On Saturday, March 30, 2024, the MA Commission on LGBTQ Youth hosted their fundraiser and celebration, The Harlem Renaissance Annual Gayla at the Royal Sonesta in Cambridge.
Guests were invited to join us in their best Harlem Renaissance-themed attire for this celebration of community, pride, and joy. The Gayla acts as both a fundraiser and a celebration of the incredible work done by the Commission's young people, staff, Commission members, and community partners. Event sponsors helped to provide wardrobe stipends to over 70 youth guests to purchase their best gender-affirming attire to attend in style !
The MA Commission on LGBTQ Youth is an independent state agency of the Commonwealth established in 1992 to study and address disproportionately high rates of suicide among LGBTQ youth. Today, we have have a longstanding partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) through our Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students; we develop and advocate for equitable policies, programs, and resources for the most marginalized LGBTQ youth—including those who are Black, Indigenous, people of color, disabled, trans, and nonbinary—in many areas such as health care, housing, education, child welfare, and the justice system. The Commission is the first and only agency of its kind in the entire country, and partners closely with more than 200 schools, 20 state agencies, and countless families and community organizations to build internal capacity, trainings, policy development, and youth outreach.
The Commission also announced the opening of this year's Jeff Perrotti Scholarship. This scholarship will present an annual award to students who have exhibited outstanding leadership skills in their communities, and will continue to honor Jeff Perrotti's incredible legacy as the founder of the Safe School's Program.
Two VIP guests in attendance and as a part of the program. First, Preston Mitchum is well known in the national LGBTQ space for his work in the community, he is an attorney, and now a reality television personality. Twiggy Pucci Garcon is an Emmy nominated film director and has worked on Pose, the KiKi movie, MnM, and All Boys Aren't Blue. She is also The House Mother of The House of Garcon and is an international Icon in the ballroom scene. We also had Candace Persuasion as one of our MCs, a drag performance, a ball (LGBTQ ballroom culture), and a host of other incredible people and programming.