Actress Pauley Perrette and singer
Lance Bass on Saturday played hosts to the third annual Voice Awards,
which honors leaders who use their voice for social change and
equality.
Proceeds from the gala held at the
Globe Theatre at Universal Studios benefit the Gay Men's Chorus of
Los Angeles (GMCLA).
Former NFL quarterback Steve Young and
his wife Barbara were on hand to present the group's Ally Award to
the California Mormon couple featured in the documentary Families
are Forever. Wendy and Tom Montgomery in 2008 worked for passage
of Proposition 8, California's now-ended ban on gay marriage, not
knowing one of their six children is gay.
(Related: Mormon
mother who supported Prop 8 now says gay son is “blessing.”)
Brian Pendelton and Chad Goldman, whose
company CauseForce has helped raise over $700 million for cancer
charities, received GMCLA's State Farm Good Neighbor Voice Award.
“I humbly thank GMCLA and the Voice
Awards committee for this incredible honor, and I salute you and
celebrate the vital work you are carrying out each day to encourage
tolerance and acceptance through the performing arts in schools
across the United States,” Pendelton said in his acceptance speech.
Also honored was Uprising of Love, the
campaign launched earlier this year to support the Russian Freedom
Fund, a vehicle for making financial contributions in support of
Russia's LGBT rights movement and efforts to combat anti-gay
discrimination in the former Soviet Republic. Co-founders Melissa
Etheridge and Bruce Cohen accepted the award.
(Related: Same
sex kisses abound in Melissa Etheridge Uprising
of Love
video.)