Monday night, I had a true New Yorker experience (at least, as true as HBO makes it!). My friend, Michael, generously got me invited to a fund-raiser for The Point Foundation, a wonderful charity that provides meritorious educational scholarships to youth who are cut off from familial support, or have otherwise suffered marginalized lives because of their sexual orientation, and such hardships have resulted in their inability to seek an education.
It was a star-studded affair, set at The Capitale, a breath-taking Greek Roman building with soaring Tiffany glass ceilings. The stars of Sex & The City were in attendance (Cynthia Nixon was being honored for her work with the foundation). I literally sat at the table next to Kim Cattrell and bumped elbows with Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner's CEO. I sat at the table with Kerry Butler, star of Broadway's Xanadu. Michael Patrick King (producer of the the S&TC series and the upcoming movie) was the host of the evening. I milled about with Sarah Jessica Parker, Anthony Rapp, Carson Cressley, Judith Light, and many stars of Broadway.
Outshining them all, though, were the kids, the youth who were recipients of the Point Foundation's scholarships. Many of them performed or spoke throughout the evening. These are kids whose parents have completely disowned them, or who have suffered severe harassment, bullying and even violence in their schools to the point that they had given up on education in their own lives. The Point Foundation provides scholarship and mentoring to these young creative minds, and now they are on their way to being opera singers, doctors, lawyers, actors, writers and designers.
It was an evening to be proud: proud of organizations like this, proud of a community in New York that supports this cause, and proud of these kids, who remind us all that, despite obstacles, rejection, and sometimes even outright hatred, we all have in us the ability to rise above our life hardships---whatever they may be--and to shine.
For all the pics of the evening, check out here and here.
