VIEW MORE PHOTOS | Evolve! for YouthPride @ Bill Lowe Gallery
Supporters that included CNN’s Don Lemon gathered last week for the annual Evolve! gala to support YouthPride, Atlanta’s center for LGBT and questioning youth, to kick off a major fundraising campaign.
With artwork, noshes, DJ Travis Roache, speeches, an auction and more than plenty of good will, gay Atlanta showed its love for the center and its programming at the June 23 event. What’s more, the gala at gay-owned Bill Lowe Gallery kicked off two weeks of Evolve! fundraising for the center.
“We know you understand the significance of having YouthPride’s counseling and suicide prevention program here in action right now,” the group announced on its Facebook page the day after the event.
“YouthPride is doing this vital work daily, so we’ll continue Evolve!-ing through midnight, July 5. We want and need your financial support,” the statement continues.
With more 5,400 visits per year now since its 1995 inception, YouthPride has served some 20,000 individuals—and counting. Your online donations “keep the love flowing at the center and stop the self-hate that can lead to teen suicides,” organizers say.
The recently out Lemon (bottom photo, right) gave a rousing talk at the Evolve! gala along with several other speakers. It’s just the latest of his local efforts to be more visible since going public with his own sexual orientation.
Even before Evolve!, we caught up with Lemon in a telling interview last week as he prepped for an Outwrite appearance (view photos) with his memoir “Transparent,” and he was even invited to be an Atlanta Pride grand marshal.
Photos by Lea Bennett Photography
