2016 Equality Gala Awards
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2016 Bob Page Equality Champion Award
The Bob Page Equality Champion Award - named for a visionary leader in North Carolina's LGBT movement - honors a legacy of advocacy for LGBT North Carolinians.
Maddie Goss
Madeline Goss lives in Raleigh, NC with her partner, Luke and her 10-year-old daughter, Sophia. She is a geek, martial artist, and most importantly an avid advocate for the LGBTQ community. When not working, she spends a lot of her free time volunteering with HRC, Equality NC, and the LGBT Center of Raleigh. It is her desire to make a better world for her daughter to grow up in.
Maddy Goss is honored with the Bob Page Equality Champion award for her years of advocacy for LGBTQ people- especially transgender people. Since before Amendment One passed in North Carolina on May 8, 2012, she has worked with lawmakers to ensure North Carolina is a state we can all be proud to call home. The day HB2 was passed, Maddy was in the state house, testifying and lobbying against what became the worst anti-LGBTQ bill in the nation.
2016 Jamie Kirk Hahn Ally Award
The Jamie Kirk Hahn Ally Award is a lasting tribute to a hero of Equality taken too soon. This acknowledgement of Jamie's extraordinary pro-equality work, and named in her honor, is awarded to an North Carolina LGBT ally for the ages.
Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts
Jennifer Roberts was raised in Charlotte and now she and her husband, Manley, are raising their two children there as well. She has worked as a diplomat for the State Department, as an international business woman and as a high school math teacher. She served four terms as an At-Large Mecklenburg County Commissioner, including five years as Chairman. She is only the second woman elected Mayor of Charlotte and is the first person to serve as both Chairman of the County Commission and as Mayor. Jennifer Roberts is awarded the Jamie Kirk Hahn Ally Award for her commitment to domestic partner benefits, marriage equality, and leadership in helping to pass the most inclusive non-discrimination law ever passed in North Carolina, the Charlotte Non-Discrimination Ordinance. She tirelessly stood up to an overreaching General Assembly and has not once backed down on equal rights and treatment of LGBTQ people across the state.
2016 Legislative Leadership Award (House)
The annual Equality NC Foundation Legislative Leadership Award recognizes exemplary pro-equality leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly.
Representative Larry Hall
Larry Hall, a former 1st vice president and executive committee member of the Durham Chapter of the NAACP, as well as life member of the NAACP, is the Democratic Leader of the North Carolina House of Representatives. Leader Hall has represented Durham County, North Carolina’s 29th District in the House of Representatives, since 2006 and he has led House Democrats since 2012. Under the leadership of Hall, the North Carolina Democratic Caucus gained the most seats of any Democratic Caucus in a Republican majority controlled state, House or Senate, in the United States during the 2014 election.
As Democratic “whip” in 2012 Rep. Hall permanently endeared himself to us during the heated legislative fight to stop Amendment One when he joined fellow representatives from the North Carolina General Assembly and North Carolina Chapter of the NAACP to speak out at press conferences, rallies, forums. During this year’s fight to repeal HB2 we could always count on Representative Hall’s leadership in the house just as we could during Amendment 1.
2016 Legislative Leadership Award (Senate)
The annual Equality NC Foundation Legislative Leadership Award recognizes exemplary pro-equality leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly.
Senator Terry Van Duyn
As the oldest of eight children and the first member of her family to go to college, Terry credits all of her success to the educational opportunities given to her and the strong work ethic modeled by her parents. Each and every day she remembers and appreciates where she came from and is committed to ensuring others have access to the same opportunities she was afforded. Whether it is delivering meals on wheels, reviewing community grants, or being a health navigator, Terry has over 20 years of experience working in our community applying practical common-sense solutions to help ordinary people put food on their table, stay healthy so they can work, and ensuring their children have access to quality education. Senator Van Duyn is honored this year for her outstanding commitment to improving the lives of LGBTQ North Carolinians. As the Democratic “Whip” in the senate, Terry has gone out of her way to make sure LGBTQ people have a seat at the table.
2016 Organization of the Year Award
This prestigious award recognizes an extraordinary North Carolina organization doing groundbreaking work for LGBT citizens.
North Carolina NAACP
Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization. Its members throughout the United States and the world are the premier advocates for civil rights in their communities. The North Carolina Conference of NAACP Branches is 70 years old this year and is made up of over 100 Adult, Youth and College NAACP units across the state, convenes the more the 150 members of the Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) Peoples Assembly Coalition, and is the architect of the Moral Monday & Forward Together Movement.
The North Carolina NAACP is honored this year for standing with the LGBTQ community in the fight against HB2 and their continued commitment to equality for all North Carolinians.