Kathy Griffin Honored By West Hollywood For LGBTQ Activism

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA – Kathy Griffin and five others will be honored by the City of West Hollywood Tuesday for their LGBTQ activism at the 25th Anniversary of the Rainbow Key Awards, which recognizes people and groups that have made outstanding contributions to the LGBTQ community. The awards will be televised on WeHoTV and live-streamed on the City's website, according to the City of West Hollywood.

Each year, the West Hollywood City Council selects award recipients following recommendations made through a nomination process overseen by the City of West Hollywood’s Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board (LGAB), according to the press release.

The 2018 Rainbow Key Awards honorees are:

• Rudy Akbarian, an openly transgender member of the U.S. Army who has served as a mentor to other Trans service members;
• Kathy Griffin, an actor-comedian and fierce ally of the community who has helped raise more than $5 million for HIV/AIDS services and LGBTQ causes;
• Matt Palazzolo, the co-founder of Equal Roots, and a longtime member of the Lesbian and Gay Advisory Board, who passed away in January;
• Brian Pendleton, an organizer-philanthropist, founder of CauseForce and a leader of last year’s #ResistMarch;
• Bamby Salcedo, a Trans activist who has worked with migration, HIV, youth, LGBT, incarceration, and Latinx communities; and
• Elizabeth Savage, a longtime activist who recently retired after 22 years with the City, working for LGBT rights, affordable housing, and aging as part of a vital and diverse community.

Past Rainbow Key Award recipients have included activists, artists, civic leaders, educators, community organizations, and others, the press release said. Contributions, whether by an individual or a group, may be in many forms, including the arts, community action, humanitarian action, sports, medicine, armed services, leadership, benefit to the global gay and lesbian community, or in other ways, according to the City of West Hollywood. More than 150 Rainbow Key Awards have been presented since its incorporation in 1984.

For additional information about the Rainbow Key Awards, please contact Jeff Book at (323) 848-6471 or jbook@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.

The Rainbow Key Awards will be held June 5 at the City of West Hollywood’s Council Chambers, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. There will be an informal reception at 6 p.m. followed by the awards program at 7 p.m., the press release said.

and on WeHoTV’s YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/wehotv.

Photo – WOODLAND HILLS, CA - JUNE 02: Kathy Griffin speaks during a press conference at The Bloom Firm on June 2, 2017 in Woodland Hills, California. Griffin is holding the press conference after a controversial photoshoot where she was holding a bloodied mask depicting President Donald Trump and to address alleged bullying by the Trump family. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)