Guidetogay.com

Two-time Emmy Award winner Kathy Griffin, Grammy-nominated recording artist Sam Sparro, and American Idol runner up Adam Lambert will be among the guests attending the Equality California event on Saturday, August 13th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Kathy Griffin will present the “Equality Advocate Award” to Facebook for its work in changing the landscape of social media online, including its stand out work with LGBT youth. Sam Sparro will present the “Equality Idol Award” to singer and songwriter Adam Lambert for being an exemplary role model for the LGBT community. Also receiving an award is New York Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell (brother of Rosie O’Donnell) who has been instrumental in securing marriage equality in New York earlier this year.

“I am sincerely honored to receive the ‘Equality Leadership’ Award from Equality California and I thank this vital group for their continued leadership in the fight for equality,” said O’Donnell. “I’m very proud to have been the prime sponsor of the Marriage Equality Act in New York, but I know the fight for equality is not limited to New York or a handful of individual states. Rather, LGBT citizens across our entire country face legalized discrimination daily. Together, we can, and are, making immense strides toward ending this injustice.”

Guests will also celebrate the passage of two pieces of landmark legislation sponsored by Equality California in 2011. The Fair Education Act, the first of its kind in the United States, will make sure the history and contributions of LGBT people to California, and our nation, will no longer be censored or ignored in social studies classes. Also, the Protection of Parent-Child Relationships Act makes sure children raised by LGBT parents will not be separated from their families by a biological parent who has no relationship with the child.