National Gay and Lesbian Task Force presents 'Sparkle'

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force presents'Sparkle'

The 16th annual Miami Recognition Dinner

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force is proud to produce the 16th annual Miami Recognition Dinner, presented by Wells Fargo, at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach on Saturday, Oct. 6. This annual fundraising event honors individuals for their outstanding contributions to the social, cultural, political and humanitarian needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

This year the Task Force will be honoring advocate Matt Foreman, currently the director of Gay and Immigrant Rights Programs at the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund in San Francisco, with the 2012 National Leadership Award. Local activist and attorney Elizabeth F. Schwartz will receive the 2012 Eddy McIntyre Community Service Award. The event will be hosted by actor/director LeVar Burton.

For the first time ever, in honor of Schwartz, who has dedicated her life to expanding and protecting LGBT families, the Miami Recognition Dinner will offer complimentary on-site childcare for all guests who have children (Childcare services must be reserved in advance).

Matt Foreman has spent his adult life working for LGBT rights, as a volunteer, as executive director of local, statewide and national LGBT organizations and, most recently, as director of one of the most LGBT-supportive foundations in the nation. He headed up the Task Force from 2003 to 2008, where he was a tireless and outspoken advocate for fairness and justice, becoming the country's most frequently-quoted LGBT rights leader.

In 2004, Foreman led efforts to ensure the Winter Party Festival and Miami Recognition Dinner stayed in community hands and continued to generate financial support to Miami-Dade LGBT organizations.

Elizabeth F. Schwartz has devoted much of her life to serving the LGBT community. She is an attorney in her 15th year of law practice and has devoted much of her life to serving the LGBT community. Her practice emphasizes representation of LGBT people in family formation and dissolution matters, and she lectures locally and nationally about the importance of same-sex couples protecting their loved ones through estate planning and contracts.

Schwartz is chair of the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Association of South Florida and a member of the National Family Law Advisory Council of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Launched in 1997, the Miami Recognition Dinner has become a vital source of funding for organizations serving the LGBT community. Since assuming responsibility for the dinner and its sister event, Winter Party Festival, in 2004, the Task Force has donated nearly $1.4 million from the proceeds of the two events to the Miami-Dade community. The Task Force donates the majority of the proceeds to The Miami Foundation's GLBT Community Projects Fund, which re-grants the money to local organizations.

Tickets to the 16th annual Miami Recognition Dinner are $250 for general admission and $350 for VIP admission (which includes a private VIP cocktail reception prior to the dinner). For ticket information, visit TheTaskForce.org/miami or call 305.571.1924.