Frank and Vaid top Fenway dinners

Urvashi Vaid will be receiving the Dr. Susan M. Love Award is given to honor and celebrate a woman and/or organization that has made a significant contribution to the field of women's health. The Love Award is given in honor of its founding recipient, Dr. Susan M. Love, a pioneer in the fields of women's health and breast cancer. Love helped found the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center in 1992 and currently heads up the Dr. Susan Love Research Foundation which is dedicated to eradicating breast cancer.

Vaid is Director of the Engaging Tradition Project at the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School. The Projects seeks to understand how the idea of tradition is used by and used against movements for gender and sexual justice; and to explore how tradition-based practices inform, enable and/or limit the work of these movements. She is a former columnist for the Advocate as well and author of Virtual Equality: The Mainstreaming of Gay & Lesbian Liberation and the forthcoming Irresistible Revolution: Race, Class and the LGBT Imagination.

Vaid serves on the Board of Directors of the Gill Foundation, which is dedicated to achieving equal opportunity for all, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity. She is founder of The Vaid Group, a consulting practice that advises individuals and organizations working to achieve social justice in a wide range of fields. Vaid has worked in various capacities at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the oldest national LGBT civil rights organization and as staff attorney at the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, where she initiated the organization's work on HIV/AIDS in prisons.

Congressman Barney Frank will receive the Congressman Gerry E. Studds Award at Fenway Health's 2012 Men's Event on March 3 in Boston. Frank represents the Fourth Congressional District of Massachusetts, is former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and is considered by many to be the most prominent out gay politician in the United States.

The Congressman Gerry E. Studds Award is given at The Men's Event to honor individuals of integrity and selflessness who embody the spirit of service and provide positive leadership for the LGBT community. Congressman Studds represented southeastern Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress from 1973 to 1997 and became the first openly gay Member of Congress in 1983 when he proudly acknowledged his sexual orientation standing on the congressional floor. The Congressman Gerry E. Studds Award is given at each year's Men's Event in honor and memory of Studds, who passed away in October 2006.

Frank was elected to Congress in 1980 and came out in 1987, becoming the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. Frank has been outspoken on civil rights issues, including LGBT rights, and in 2006 was quoted as saying, "I do have things I would like to see adopted on behalf of LGBT people: they include the right to marry the individual of our choice; the right to serve in the military to defend our country; and the right to a job based solely on our own qualifications."

Frank is currently serving his 16th term in the House of Representatives and remains the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. He has indicated that he will be retiring at the end of this term. Frank was born and raised in New Jersey, graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School and worked as a political aide before winning election to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1972.

The 2012 Women's Dinner Party is being held on Saturday, March 31 from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. The Women's Dinner Party is an elegant attire fundraiser forFenway Health that brings together more than 1,200 lesbian, transgender and bisexual women and their friends and supporters for a night of dinner and dancing. This year's event is made possible thanks to the hard work of event chairs Theresa Murray, Gina Savageau, and Aimee VanWagenen, as well as the support of our generous corporate sponsor.

The 2012 Men's Event will be held on Saturday, March 3 from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. The Men's Event is a black-tie fundraiser for Fenway Health that brings together more than 1,300 gay, transgender and bisexual men and their friends and supporters for a night of dinner and dancing. This year's event is made possible thanks to the hard work ofevent chairs Jeff Dugan, Scott Kearnan and David Zimmerman, as well as the support of our generous corporate sponsors. More information is available at www.mensevent.org.