PHOTOS: Michael Patrick King, Writer and Director of Sex and the City and Co-Creator of The Comeback, Honored at the 2026 Human Rights Campaign Los Angeles Dinner
by Aneesha Pappy •
Special guests RuPaul and Lisa Kudrow were also in attendance alongside actress and honorary dinner chair Niecy Nash-Betts, Olympian Brittany Bowe, Mayor Karen Bass, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and members, supporters and advocates from across the state.
Photos for editorial use from Blue Carpet and from the program may be found here — courtesy of Getty Images
LOS ANGELES — On Saturday, March 28th, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization, brought together hundreds of LGBTQ+ advocates and supporters for its annual Los Angeles Dinner. Photos from the dinner can be found here.
This year’s event honored writer and director of Sex and the City and Co-Creator of The Comeback Michael Patrick King with HRC's Visibility Award. Drag superstar and icon RuPaul and prolific actress and ally Lisa Kudrow were special guests at the event and presented King with the award. Other guests included Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, actress Niecy Nash-Betts, Olympian Brittany Bowe, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and many more. The night also featured a live auction led by comedian and ‘Out 100’ Honoree Dana Goldberg. HRC President Kelley Robinson also addressed the crowd on the fight ahead for LGBTQ+ equality.
Michael Patrick King spoke about the importance of uplifting LGBTQ+ stories on screen and bringing visibility for the LGBTQ+ community in the entertainment world.
So we have to push back those lies about us, about people who are different and push forward empowering stories about people who dare to be themselves, stories about characters who risk being individual in the face of society…
In living rooms across this country, people who don't know a queer person or think they don't, are watching TV, and occasionally watching an LGBTQ+ character, and sometimes something that happens on a television, a certain story, a wonderful character, a joke, a heart revealed can knock down the scaffold society has forced us to build up around ourselves and reveal the soul underneath. And when this happens, people in their homes, sitting on their couches, can see us and come to know us. And little by little, we are no longer ‘them.’
Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson gave remarks on the state of LGBTQ+ rights and the critical moment the LGBTQ+ community is facing in the fight for equality:
What has struck me most is not the fear in our community, it is our courage. Because even now, with all of this grief, all of this anger, all of this pain, we are not without hope. And we are not without power. Look at No Kings! At Minneapolis! At Prop 50 passing here in California! These are serious times that require serious leadership and it’s not going to come from the White House, it’s going to come from us."
On the fight for marriage equality, and the tragic loss of Rob and Michelle Reiner, she added:
“Rob and Michele Reiner have been on my heart lately… they were champions for us - for all of us. When Prop 8 passed in 2008, Rob and Michele stood shoulder to shoulder with a real-life league of queer avengers… and from that moment, they launched the American Foundation for Equal Rights. That legal team took the fight to the Supreme Court. And they won.
Rob and Michele showed us what real allyship is… these are the stories we have to tell. Stories of heroes who came before us. Stories that remind us of our power.”
More videos from the event will be posted on HRC’s YouTube page in the upcoming week.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.
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