by Daniel Johnson
November 28, 2023
The Stonewall Brick Awards Gala will honor Dominique Jackson, an actress best known for her appearances on FX’s Pose, with the Icon Award
The first annual Stonewall Brick Awards Gala will be held on Dec. 4 at Racket in New York City. The Stonewall Initiative is putting the awards show on in honor of the 1979 Stonewall Riots, officially recognized as the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. Though there has been some disagreement about who actually threw the first brick, by most accounts, credit goes to Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman.
The Brick Awards will honor Dominique Jackson, an actress best known for appearing on FX’s Pose, with the Icon Award. According to The Advocate, Stacey Lentz, the co-owner of the Stonewall Inn and the CEO of the Stonewall Gives Back Initiative, which the awards show will benefit, provided the criteria for the honorees. “The award recipients continuously give back to the LGBTQ+ community, especially during a time when we need it most. This gala is a time for us to celebrate our resilience and the activists at the forefront.”
In an October interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Jackson discussed what it meant to her to be honored with an award from the National LGBTQ Task Force in Florida despite the state’s repression of LGBTQ+ citizens, saying, “It’s not just a major act of resistance, it’s just major. We’re here. We have been here, and we will continue to be us. For me, going to Florida, yes, I have a bit of fear because of what is happening. When you’re on the outside, you really don’t get the gist of what’s actually happening on the inside. But my brothers and sisters in Florida are resilient. They are strong.”
In addition to Jackson, the Brick Awards will also honor Ugandan LGBTQ+ human rights activist Dr. Frank Mugisha with the Global Activist Award, the GenderCool Project with the Youth Courage Award, the LGBTQ+ Ambassador for the Stoli Group, Patrick Gallineaux with the Safe Spaces Award, and the ACLU’s Deputy Executive Director for Strategy & Culture, Amber Hikes, with the Community Activist Award. There will also be a silent auction, which comedian Dana Goldberg will emcee.
The Brick Awards will feature performances by The Dragon Sisters and Jackie Beat, and presenters for the awards will be Yuhua Hamasaki, Jeff Hiller, Ian Paget, Nico Tortorella, Murray Hill, Lorna Luft, and Sam Jay. The show will be emceed by Peppermint, best known as the runner-up on the 9th Season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Peppermint is also an actress, singer/songwriter, activist, and television personality. Tickets for the event are already on sale and have two tiers: a Priority Seats option and a Standing Room option. Tickets can cost up to $300 for a priority seat once all fees have been added to the ticket cost. There are no plans for the evening to be live-streamed, so the only way to experience it is to buy a ticket and attend the gala in person.
