The red carpet will be rolled out next month to honor the celebrities in the local LGBT community. Dawn Maitri of Maitri Moments, LLC, and business partner Denise Ward created the Rainbow Carpet Awards Dinner to honor local LGBT organizations and individuals with a “red carpet”-esque event from 6-11 p.m. Sept. 21 at the Waterview Lounge, 1020 N. Delaware Ave., third floor. “Many of us watch the Oscars or Emmys but we don’t have our own red-carpet event in our own community, so we decided to form one on a much smaller scale,” she said. “We have so many organizations and people that do good things in our community and we wanted to spotlight them.” Maitri hopes to make it an annual event. Awards will honor best group or organization, youth supporter, social booster, promoter, civil-rights advocate, artist, athletic league, night expo and business pillars. The public can vote for their favorites online, with one vote allowed per day. The Rainbow Carpet Awards Dinner will also pay tribute to longtime community leaders such as the William Way LGBT Community Center, The Attic Youth Center, Mazzoni Center, Philadelphia FIGHT, Wanda Sykes, Giovanni’s Room and the recently defunct Sisters Nightclub. “[The honorees] don’t have any type of prejudice against our community and their main focus is to make sure our community is recognized,” Maitri said. The event will feature a silent auction and photography by “paparazzi.” “We are also looking to have entertainment from standup comedians from the LGBT community,” Maitri said. “The agenda has not been nailed down just yet and we are still trying to get confirmation, but the highlight of this event will be the awards.” Maitri said the event will allow the community to thanks its leaders. “It is important to support the work and the good deeds that the nominees have been doing for many years, so come out and show support for all the hard work they are doing.” The event is black-tie and tickets are $80 each. For more information, visit www.rainbowcarpetawards.socialiction.com.
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