An Evening with Women, a major fundraising event for the Los Angeles LGBT Center was held on Saturday at the Hollywood Palladium. The presenting sponsor for this year’s event was Toyota Financial Services. The Los Angeles LGBT Center had a record-breaking night as the attendance exceeded 1,000 patrons.
Celebrities, VIP guests, and LGBT community supporters included Jenny Bernheim, Brandon Boyd, Kiersey Clemons, Clea DuVall, Susan Feniger, Daniel Franzese, Kat Graham, Victoria Justice, Abbey Lee Kershaw, Blair & David Kohan, Shea Marie, Katherine Moennig, Alex Newell, Peter Paige, Matthew Risch, Omarosa Manigault, Jeffrey Probst, Jai Rodriquez, Ruby Rose, Michael Sheen, Kiernan Shipka, Cameron Silver, Jessica Stroup, Caroline Vreeland, Constance Zimmer along with Lorri L. Jean (CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center) and event co-chairs Linda Perry, Brent Bolthouse, Kelly Lynch and Annie Goto.
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The event included both a silent auction and a live auction. The silent auction showcased items ranging from gift certificates to popular restaurants and a Hornblower Dinner Cruise, to a Marilyn Monroe doll and artwork from Mr. Brainwash and Barbara Koltai. The live auction was comprised of several priceless experiences and/or items; there were quite a few bidding wars. Sia even got in on the action! Sia out bid a few attendees when she offered up $23,000 for Airfare to Hawaii, 4 nights at the Four Seasons Maui, and 250,000 American Airlines miles.
A lunch date with comedian Fortune Feimster was auctioned off, not once, not twice, but three times! Fortune and Sarah Silverman used a make out session as incentive to get bidders to spend more. Needless to say, their plan worked. After both auctions ended it was announced that the Los Angeles LGBT Center had raised over 160K from the winning bidders.
Before the musical performances took place Sarah Silverman hit the stage for a quick set. She had the crowd in stitches with her satirical humor.
Sia performed her hits “Elastic Heart” and “Chandelier” as Deena Thomsen danced beside her. At the end of her performance Sia did something she normally doesn’t do, she took off her signature wig and revealed her face as the audience gave her a standing ovation.
No Doubt performed an acoustic set that included “Simple Kind of Life”, “Don’t Speak”, and “Underneath it All”. They closed out the evening with “I’m Just a Girl” which was a perfect fit as the theme of the evening was the celebration of women.
This year’s An Evening with Women event raised over $700,00 “for the vital services the Los Angeles LGBT Center provides to undeserved seniors, women and girls, including the more than 2,000 homeless LGBT youth in Los Angeles.” For more information about the Los Angeles LGBT Center and how you can help please visit www.lalgbtcenter.org.
Photos: Getty Images for the Los Angeles LGBT Center – John Shearer / Jonathan Leibson