1rst Annual “Light Up the Night” Dinner/Dance
The inaugural PTGS Light Up the Night dinner/dance and commemoration award event was held at the Contemporary Art Center on the riverfront in Peoria, Nov 19th. It was by all accounts a wonderful success and a great time for all who attended!!! Our M/C, Miss Flo started out the evening with an intro and of course, her usual wit and comedy and later entertained all of us with several of her stage performances as well which garnered her much deserved applause from the audience!
The dinner catered by Cracked Pepper was served buffet style and consisted of your choice of braised ribs or chicken, a vegetable medley and herbed potatoes. During dinner, the din of the room dissolved into many satisfied smiles from everyone there. Absolutely delicioso!!
After dinner, there was cause for a more somber moment in the nights festivities as Kris and Lissa on behalf of the Peoria TransGender Society awarded the first One Life – One Light award. This award recognizes an individual – preferably local – not necessarily transgender, who has demonstrated a life of significant leadership, an example being; advocacy to the transgender community. This year’s One Life – One Light award was given to Leanna Bradley from Galesburg, IL, a transgender woman who has a distinguished military career, made numerous public appearances and interviews from years past which also included being in a movie, several books and magazine articles (one being this article by the Gay Military Signal ) all of which were about her life before and during her military service or on her transition after she retired from the navy. She was also instrumental in the fight with the military in order to receive her retirement benefits which they were trying to deny because of her transgender status or her transition. Because of her and others in the military who fought for their rights and prevailed, it cleared the way for other transgender service personnel who would later follow in their footsteps to get the benefits due them for their military service.
The fun filled evening then progressed to dancing to music provided by DJ which packed the dance floor, enjoying friends company and making new friends along the way!! A wonderful evening for all!!
