HONOREES - New York Respect 2010

Cyndi Lauper
Inspiration Award

An unwavering advocate for LGBT equality since the start of her career, Cyndi Lauper founded the True Colors Fund in 2008 to inspire and engage everyone, particularly the straight community, to become involved in the advancement of LGBT equality, and selected GLSEN as its official education partner (www.wegiveadamn.org).

Pfizer
Corporate Role Model Award

Pfizer's diversity and inclusion aspiration is straightforward: We will be an industry leader and one of the Top 10 global corporations in Diversity and Inclusion. For seven consecutive years, Pfizer has scored a perfect 100 on the HRC Corporate Equality Index and was the first pharmaceutical company to achieve that distinction.

American Express
Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

American Express has a long history of being a strong supporter of LGBT inclusive policies and practices and scored a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index. American Express ranks number 12 on the DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, and also appears on the Top 10 list for LGBT Employees. American Express has been a supporter of GLSEN since 2008.

David Dechman & Michel Mercure
Lifetime Achievement Award

David Dechman and Michel Mercure were among GLSEN's very first major supporters, and were instrumental in building the organization from the ground up. David was the first openly gay partner at Goldman Sachs and is the co-founder and CEO of Summit Rock Advisors. Michel is the founder and president of AD+ Incorporated, a large format printing company. David and Michel are active in many philanthropic ventures including the work of the Gill Foundation.

Danielle Smith
Student Advocate of the Year

After a nationwide search, GLSEN has selected Danielle Smith as our 2010 Student Advocate of the Year. This award will be presented by AT&T to a student who has gone above and beyond in that person's community to ensure that all students are safe in schools and bullying and name-calling become a thing of the past. Find more about Danielle here.