The 2nd Annual Stonewall Humanitarian Awards ceremony took place on June 13 in Palm Springs, California, to honor those who work to improve the quality of life for all LGBTQ+ people. The evening, a benefit for the Transgender Health and Wellness Center (THWC) and the Transgender Community Coalition (TCC), also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots and honored the transgender protesters at the 1969 demonstration who helped spark the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

This year, Anthony Velasco, a nurse practitioner and HIV specialist at Desert AIDS Project, was honored with a Stonewall Humanitarian Award for his life-changing programs aimed at the LGBTQ+ community and those living with HIV and for his efforts to achieve the United Nations’ 90-90-90 goal (to get 90% of people with HIV diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed on treatment and 90% of that group virally suppressed).

The L- Fund received the inaugural Marsha P. Johnson Ally Award for its work providing financial resources to transgender women in crisis.

The evening was hosted by Ethylina Canne and featured special guests actress Anne Walker and singer, actor and model Laith Ashley, who shared his story and performed.

The Transgender Health and Wellness Center and Transgender Community Coalition are sister organizations that put the needs of the transgender, intersex and gender-diverse community first. The two organizations collaborate to achieve total health and wellness for this underserved community.