The City of West Hollywood and its LGBTQ+ Commission will host a ceremony of the annual Rainbow Key Awards to recognize people and groups who have made outstanding contributions to the LGBTQ community.  

This year’s Rainbow Key Awards Ceremony, which will honor the awardees selected in 2024, will be held in-person on Sunday, April 6, 2025, at 6 p.m. at the City of West Hollywood’s City Council Chambers/Public Meeting Room, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. The awards ceremony will be immediately followed by a reception and afterparty on the Respite Deck at the West Hollywood Park Aquatic and Recreation Center, adjacent to West Hollywood Library.

Additional information for this free event, including registration details, is available by visiting the City’s website at www.weho.org/rainbowkey or RSVP directly via Eventbrite. For those unable to attend, the event will also be livestreamed and recorded for replay viewing on the City’s WeHoTV channel on YouTube at www.youtube.com/wehotv.

Every year, the City’s LGBTQ+ Commission selects nominees in a public process. This year’s Rainbow Key Awards honorees, though held in 2025, will honor the 2024 awardees that were selected by the LGBTQ+ Commission.

The Rainbow Key Awards honorees are:

• Jackie Beat, a drag superstar who has been entertaining audiences across the U.S. and Europe for more than 35 years. Beat is known for her razor-sharp comedy and hysterical song parodies. Apart from her live tours, Beat has also worked in the film and television industry and has often used her talents to raise money for HIV and AIDS charities and other organizations supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

• Dapper Dyke Vivian Escalante, a driving force in lesbian activism, is renowned for establishing Dykes on Bikes in both West Hollywood and Long Beach. Her contributions to the visibility and empowerment of the lesbian community during a time of limited representation are truly remarkable.

• Dr. Rebecca Gitlin, served as the first LGBTQ+ Services Specialist within the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH)’s Anti-Racism, Inclusion, Solidary, and Empowerment (ARISE) Division, and she now serves as a clinical supervisor at the LACDMH Hollywood Mental Health Cooperative. She has led efforts to ensure that both identity and gender-affirming services are included across all services provided within LACDMH.

• LZ Love, a legendary African American transwoman singer, who, for decades, has been entertaining audiences across the world with her gutbucket soul-stirring blues and her blues-saturated gospel and dance music. She began singing when she was very young, and, at the age of sixteen, was even a background vocalist for the late great disco diva Sylvester. Love has in the past performed at the City of West Hollywood’s annual Transgender Day of Remembrance Ceremony and has also performed at countless LGBTQ+ Pride events across the nation.

• Brian Sonia-Wallace, the founder of Pride Poets, the band of LGBTQ+ typewriter poets who have collectively written thousands of free custom poems at West Hollywood Pride events and beyond since 2019, giving the community a chance to have their stories of love, loss, and celebration honored through poetry. Sonia-Wallace served as West Hollywood’s 4th Poet Laureate from 2020-2023, creating space for hundreds of LGBTQ+ writers to express themselves and build community through the APLA Writers’ Workshop, The Mic @ Micky’s, and the West Hollywood Slam Team.

The City of West Hollywood has, since 1993, presented Rainbow Key Awards to people and organizations that have made outstanding contributions to the LGBTQ+ community. Previous honorees have included activists, artists, civic leaders, educators, community organizations, and many others. Contributions, whether by an individual or a group, may be in many forms, including the arts, community action, humanitarian action, sports, medicine, armed services, leadership potential, benefit to the global LGBTQ+ community, or in other ways. More than 180 Rainbow Key Awards have been presented since the award’s inception.

Since incorporation in 1984, the City of West Hollywood has become one of the most influential cities in the nation for its outspoken advocacy on LGBTQ+ issues. No other city of its size has had a greater impact on the national public policy discourse on fairness and inclusiveness for LGBTQ+ people. More than 40 percent of residents in West Hollywood identify as LGBTQ+. The City has advocated for four decades for measures to support LGBTQ+ individuals and has been in the vanguard on efforts to gain and protect equality for all people on a state, national, and international level.

For additional information about the Rainbow Key Awards, please contact Moya Márquez at (323) 848-6574 or at mmarquez@weho.org or visit www.weho.org/rainbowkey. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing dial 711 or 1-800-735-2929 (TTY) or 1-800-735-2922 (voice) for California Relay Service (CRS) assistance.

For up-to-date information about City of West Hollywood news and events, follow @wehocity on social media, sign-up for news updates at www.weho.org/email, and visit the City’s calendar of meetings and events at www.weho.org/calendar. West Hollywood City Hall is open for walk-in services at public counters or by appointment by visiting www.weho.org/appointments. City Hall services are accessible by phone at (323) 848-6400 and via website at www.weho.org. Receive text updates by texting “WeHo” to (323) 848-5000.

For reporters and members of the media seeking additional information about the City of West Hollywood, please contact the City of West Hollywood’s Public Information Officer, Sheri A. Lunn, at (323) 848-6391 or slunn@weho.org.