(Photo from The Center Orlando’s Instagram page)
ORLANDO | The LGBT+ Center Orlando will host their 12th annual Diversity Awards on July 26 at the Sheraton Lake Buena Vista. The ceremony is set to start at 12:00 p.m.
The Center Orlando has promoted and empowered the LGBTQ+ community and its allies through advocacy, education, information and support for the past 46 years. With its outreach to the Central Florida community, The Center Orlando holds its annual Diversity Awards to honor local champions, trailblazers and impact makers that support and celebrate inclusion. The organization looks to honor teamwork especially in a time where queer rights are being continually challenged.
The event will consist of a plated lunch, a rainbow juice bar during cocktail hour and a program where The Center Orlando will acknowledge and celebrate individuals and businesses that exemplify leadership in diversity and inclusion. The Center Orlando will also be announcing its 2024 student scholarship recipients.
For its 2024 Diversity Award honorees, The Center Orlando will recognize Congressman Maxwell Alejandro Frost, the U.S. representative for Florida’s 10th Congressional district, with the LGBT+ Ally award.
“I feel incredibly honored,” Frost said in an interview with Watermark. “This is an organization that is part of the life and blood of the LGBTQ+ movement and apparatus of Central Florida and the fact that they thought to honor me and give me an award, means the world. I always say you must be more than just an ally in this work — you’ve got to be an accomplice and you got to be a partner.
“The Center does such amazing and important work and it’s on many different levels but really it is about taking care of our people now,” Frost continued. “When we live in a state like this in Florida, where we have a neo-fascist, right-wing government that uses and abuses marginalized communities to try and consolidate power, we do have to protect us, and that is what the Center does.”
The Center Orlando will also recognize two individuals with its Trailblazer Award: Admiral Rachel L. Levine, MD, the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and National Press Secretary for the Human Rights Campaign Brandon Wolf.
“A ‘trailblazer’ is someone who is making a change, whether it be a small change locally, all the way to a national change,” says George Wallace, The Center Orlando’s CEO. “A trailblazer to me is someone who is outspoken and visible.”
Other award recipients will include La Jon Dantzler, The Center Orlando’s Individual Giving Manager, who will be named the Emerging Leader Award and Michael Slaymaker, Chief Executive Officer at Orlando Youth Alliance, who will be recognized as The Center Orlando’s 2024 Lifetime Achievement recipient.
“My family brought me up as, ‘Michael if you want that bicycle, go mow some yards.’ In other words, go work for it. Don’t let somebody else do it; if you see something in need, make it better. That’s how I was raised,” said Slaymaker.
Several organizations will also be recognized at the Diversity Awards, including Zebra Youth with the Non-Profit Partner award, Orange County Government with the Champion of Equality award, Universal Studios Florida with the Corporate Partner award, and Watermark Publishing Group with the Small Business Partner award.
The 12th annual Diversity Awards will take place at the Sheraton Orlando Lake Buena Vista Resort, located at 12205 S. Apopka Vineland Rd. in Orlando, on July 26, starting at 12 p.m. Individual tickets are $85 and are available at GiveButter.com/DiversityAwards.
