23rd Annual Spirit of Justice Award Dinner
Thursday, October 27 2022
6:00 pm
Virtual AND in-person at Boston Park Plaza
50 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116
About the Event
Thank you to everyone who made our 23rd Annual Spirit of Justice Award Dinner such a success!
GLAD’s biggest event of the year brought together supporters of LGBTQ+ equality for an opportunity to unite in resistance, look toward a future of true justice, and support GLAD’s life-changing mission.
This year, we were thrilled to honor Nadine Smith with the Spirit of Justice Award. Nadine is the Executive Director of Equality Florida and a lifelong advocate for human rights and LGBTQ+ equality.
Watch the powerful remarks from the event’s speakers:
Jennifer Levi
Senior Director of Transgender and Queer Rights Jennifer Levi reflects on our accomplishments of the past year, the challenges facing our movement for equality, and how we will tackle these attacks together.
Janson Wu
Executive Director Janson Wu memorialized the late Urvashi Vaid, 2014 Spirit of Justice Honoree and an LGBTQ+ and HIV advocacy hero who we lost this year.
Janson also announced GLAD’s exciting new strategic plan to deepen our national leadership partnerships and impact, expand our legal capacity, protect a multiracial, pluralistic democracy, and sustain an antiracist and intergenerational movement for the long term.
Marie King
We all deserve to be treated with dignity and respect as we age. But transgender older adults, like our client Marie King, experience high rates of discrimination and vulnerability in long-term care facilities. Here’s Marie’s story about being denied a room at Sunrise Assisted Living in Maine simply because of who she is – and how the settlement in her case will help other transgender older adults.
Michael Johnson
Chief Legal Officer Michael Johnson introduces the 2022 Spirit of Justice Award Honoree Nadine Smith. The award recognizes someone whose work and achievements reflect a profound dedication to GLAD’s ideals of a just and equitable society.
Nadine Smith
Spirit of Justice honoree Nadine Smith is the Executive Director of Equality Florida and a lifelong advocate for human rights and LGBTQ+ rights. In her acceptance speech, Nadine reminds us that the work ahead is formidable, but that we have fought courageously throughout our community’s history, and won. Learn more about Nadine and her impactful work.
Watch the full playlist from the 2022 Spirit of Justice Award Dinner, including looks back at past honorees and a tribute to beloved friend and trailblazing activist Urvashi Vaid.
Inspired to support LGBTQ+ justice? Need to fulfill your gift? Donate today.
Co-Chairs
Ray Cheng
Jamie Bergeron
Host Committee
Gavin Alexander
Annika Bockius-Suwyn
Jean-Phillip Brignol
Liz Monnin Browder
Mario Nimock
Michael Thompson
Michael Xavier
Sponsors
Presenting

Diamond


Ruby



Platinum
Eastern Bank
The Herrman Family
Holland & Knight LLP
Shari & Bob Levitan
Alix Ritchie & Marty Davis
State Street
Gold
JPMorgan Chase
Ropes & Gray LLP
Sun Life Financial
Silver
5 Star Travel Tzell
Above & Beyond Catering
Boston University School of Law
Burns & Levinson LLP
Cambridge Savings Bank
Cornerstone Research
Day Pitney LLP
Deloitte
DLA Piper LLP US
Peter J. Epstein
Ernst & Young LLP
Foley Hoag LLP
General Electric
Goulston & Storrs
Latham & Watkins LLP
Locke Lord LLP
Mead, Talerman & Costa LLC
Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo PC
Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP
David Perkins & Willem van Schalkwyk
Rockland Trust - Blue Hills Charitable Foundation
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
Wolf Greenfield & Sacks PC
Yurko Partners, P.C.
Bronze
ACLU of Massachusetts
BAGLY
Beacon Hill Staffing Group
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Edward S. W. Boesel
Boston Bar Association/Boston Bar Foundation
Boston Scientific
Brown Advisory
Brown Rudnick LLP
Choate Hall & Stewart LLP
Equality Federation
Fish & Richardson, P.C.
Greater Boston PFLAG
Hogan Lovells US LLP
Keshet
Law Offices of P. Christopher DiOrio
Lawson & Weitzen LLP
Diane K. Lincoln
McCarter & English LLP
Movement Mortgage
National Center for Transgender Equality
Pine Tree Legal Assistance
Qwear
Sanofi US
Leslie Serchuck & Lynnae Schwartz
Sidley Austin LLP
Silicon Laboratories Inc.
Susman Godfrey LLP
Linda Z. Swartz & Jessica W. Seaton
Lee Swislow & Denise McWilliams
United Parish of Auburndale
Victory Programs
Edmund & Jane Walsh
Wilson, Marino & Bonnevie, P.C.
Do you have questions about the event? Want to become a sponsor of next year’s Spirit of Justice Award Dinner? Contact Mads Ouellette at mouellette@glad.org.