Members of the Emory Gay and Lesbian Alumni (GALA) gathered last Friday, January 21, for their sixth annual Fund-Raising Reception, which took place at the home of Dirk Brown 90B and Tim Burns. The 40 attendees raised $2,225 to support the GALA Student Leadership Scholarship Award and the 2011 Pride Awards. And that brings the total cash in hand for the GALA Student Leadership Award to $70,323, and the total pledged balance to $142,515.

The new GALA co-chairs Ryan Roche 03Ox 05C and Lily Correa 73C reviewed the past year, and also highlighted future GALA events and programs. Michael Shutt, assistant dean for campus life and director of the Office of LGBT Life, updated the group with information from his office.

In the photo above, Olivia Wise 10C (left), recipient of the first GALA scholarship award in 2009, and Aby Parsons 16PhD, right, chat during the reception.

See more photos of the GALA Fund-Raising Reception on the EAA's photo page.

Here's a throwback picture from the 2007 Emory Gay and Lesbian Alumni (GALA) holiday social. We may be past the holiday season now, but the glad tidings never stop with GALA.

Good food, great company, and a terrific cause ... That's what Emory GALA is all about tonight as they celebrate their sixth annual Fund-raising Reception. The proceeds go toward the GALA Student Leadership Scholarship Award. Emory GALA is the first and only alumni interest group of the Emory Alumni Association (EAA) to have created and fully endowed an undergraduate scholarship program for the benefit of LGBTQ students.

If you grew up in the greater Atlanta area like I did, it’s likely that your memories of the Fernbank Museum of Natural History focus on elementary school field trips, complete with sack lunches, playing with the giant bubbles in the Sensing Nature exhibit, and all the dinosaurs you can imagine.

Well, imagine Martinis and IMAX as a field trip for adults, minus all those peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It’s a chance to enjoy live music and company under their dinosaurs, followed by a larger-than-life IMAX film, with a martini in hand.

This was the setting for a recent Young Alumni and Emory Gay and Lesbian Alumni (GALA) event. Guests were welcomed to an Emory reception area, complete with some rather tasty hors d'oeuvres. It quickly became crowded due to the large group in attendance, causing guests to disperse among the many tables the museum had neatly positioned around the dinosaurs.

Have I mentioned the dinosaurs? I may be one of those rare adults who never grew out of their childhood dinosaur phase (so what if I have a T. Rex in my apartment), but I think everyone in attendance will admit that they provided a delightful backdrop for the evening.

The band was great, the drinks were better, and after a couple of hours of mingling guests were ushered upstairs to see Arabia. I wish I could tell you what the film was about, but I spent most of it amazed/grossed out by the camels. They have two joints in their back legs, allowing them to bend in the weirdest way possible. Maybe someone else who was there can speak to the actual purpose of the film, since I may have missed the point.

All in all, it was an excellent event and a perfect way to kick off the weekend. I’m always a fan of doing something new and can’t wait to see what the Young Alumni come up with next.

-- Kelley Quinn 08B, coordinator, Emory Alumni Board

On Tuesday, March 2, students, faculty, alumni, staff, and administrators gathered at the Miller-Ward Alumni House for this year’s Pride Awards. The awards, which serve as an annual celebration for members of Emory’s LGBT community, were a rousing success again this year despite less-than-ideal weather.

Highlights of the evening included remarks from a handful of 2010 graduates as well as the presentation of a number of awards and accolades, including The GALA Leadership Award, the Chesnut LGBT Person of the Year Award, and Studies in Sexualities Essay Contest Awards.

Other highlights included a photo slideshow featuring successes and challenges faced by Emory’s LGBT community last year, the ever-witty antics of Michael Shutt, director of the Office of LGBT Life and emcee for the evening, and two amazing performances by AHANA, Emory’s multicultural a cappella group.

As in the past, this year’s Pride Awards centered around recognition and success. One other theme also ran seamlessly throughout the night, perhaps more overtly than in years past: gratitude.

Student speakers conveyed their thanks to mentors and friends, award recipients expressed deep appreciation for the laurels they were receiving . . . everyone, it seemed, recognized not only the successes being celebrated at the awards, but also the many sources of support that allowed for these achievements to exist in the first place.

This message came through loud and clear in special remarks from Allison Dykes, vice president for alumni relations. She shared the exciting news that approximately $130,000 has been raised in gifts and pledges toward the GALA Leadership Scholarship, noting that this accomplishment would not have been possible had it not been for the generosity and leadership of Emory’s alumni and friends.

The talented voices of AHANA captured the message in its simplest form in their soulful, goosebump-inspiring performance of a Boyz II Men classic, Thank You.

The 2010 Pride Awards were sponsored by The Emory University Office of LGBT Life, Emory Gay and Lesbian Alumni (GALA), the Emory Alumni Association (EAA), and the President's Commission on Sexuality, Gender Diversity and Queer Equality.

-- Ben Corley 07C, assistant director, regional programs, EAA

GALALALALA, LA, LA, LA, LA!

Despite an already-stacked calendar of holiday events and festivities, Emory Gay and Lesbian Alumni (GALA), Emory OUTLaw, and the Goizueta Pride Alliance had a wonderful showing at this year’s GALA Holiday Social last Friday, December 4.

The event, which was organized and executed by Terry Sartor 93B 93C (long-time GALA alumni volunteer leader) was held at Mixx--a fun, simple, clean (!) establishment that is, self-admittedly, fairly unknown at the moment.

In many ways, Mixx was the perfect venue for this year’s Holiday Social–like the event and the people who attended, Mixx was carefree, but put together with thought and care. Among the limited offering of LGBT bars in Atlanta (or, rather, the limited offering of non-sketchy LGBT bars in Atlanta), Mixx was something new. And new was nice.

GALA’s partnership with Emory OUTLaw and the Goizueta Pride Alliance was also a nice addition. The positive impacts of this new partnership were immediately apparent upon entering the event, as alumni from all of Emory's schools and affiliations reveled in the holiday spirit side-by-side.

The best part: everyone seemed to be having fun, a feeling easily overlooked in a season jam-packed with shopping lists, extended family, and resolution planning. It may have been the stellar service, or the smell of tasty food in the air. Or maybe it was the campy--albeit charming--vintage video clips being projected on the walls . . . or perhaps it was the twinkling Christmas lights scattered throughout the private room. Heck, maybe it was just the cocktails talking . . . whatever magical combination of factors brought on the palpable sense of relaxation at this year’s GALA Holiday Social, it was something special--something special that this event planner wishes he could bottle up and save for later.

Cheers to a wildly successful holiday event, and to hoping others will be just as great this season!

Ben Corley 07C, assistant director, regional programs, EAA

Updated Saturday morning, 9:25 a.m.

Emory Homecoming Weekend continues ... Highlights follow.

Saturday, Sept. 26:
12:01 a.m. Spirit Day, Everywhere. Put on your Emory shirt and hat! Go outside as much as possible. If for some awful reason you don’t have one, pick up a free shirt at the DUC or during the Homecoming parade.

9:00 a.m. 5K Run Through Lullwater, Lullwater Park. The 5K times really dropped after we added the Lullwater Park Monster to the lake. That’s not really true, but you’re thinking about it now, aren’t you?

10:30 a.m. Celebrating 50 Years of Sorority Life, DUC, Winship Ballroom. 50 years minus that Tuesday after Rush in 1988. You know the day we mean. Not much to celebrate that day.

10:30 a.m. Blue Jean Brunch, Woodruff Library, MARBL. Annual social sponsored by GALA (Emory Gay and Lesbian Alumni). Levi’s are cool; Toughskins, not so much.

To see the entire Can't Miss List of Homecoming Highlights, visit the October 2009 issue of EmoryWire.

-- Eric Rangus, director of communications, EAA