CHELY WRIGHT RECEIVES BLACK TIE DINNER MEDIA AWARD

Singer/songwriter Chely Wright will receive the Black Tie Dinner Media Award which is given in recognition of positive, increased awareness of GLBT issues in the media.

Wright became the first prominent country music star to declare publicly that she is gay. On the Today Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Oprah and in a People magazine cover story, Wright discussed her decision to live openly as a lesbian entertainer in the mainstream country music world. In the interviews she clarifies that it was important to come out - not only for herself - but because she’s in a unique position to be able to provide a counter message to the hateful, bigoted messages young children hear from their churches on the issue of sexuality. Wright has recently written a memoir, Like Me,

Black Tie Dinner Co-Chair Nan Arnold praised Wright for her courage. “The reaction from her fans and others has been overwhelmingly positive,” Arnold said. “Chely’s decision to live openly as a lesbian is creating an opportunity for the voices of acceptance and equality to be heard.” released in May, 2010.

Though Wright made her name as a commercial country singer, recording songs from some of Nashville’s top writers — including modern-day classics like “Single White Female,” “Shut Up and Drive” and “Jezebel” — she has been honing her craft as a songwriter since her teenage years in rural Kansas. Her seventh studio album, Lifted off the Ground, was released in May.

Activist, author and businessman Mitchell Gold will present the Black Tie Dinner Media Award to Wright. Gold, who plays a major role in the national dialogue on gay rights, is the founder of Faith in America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people about how religion-based bigotry is used to justify discrimination against gay people. He has also authored Crisis: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social, and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay in America, as well as books on home furnishings. He is the openly gay Chairman and founder of Mitchell Gold Company, a furniture manufacturer based in Taylorsville, North Carolina.

Black Tie Dinner will have a full program line-up with a specially arranged tribute to the Black Tie Dinner Beneficiaries featuring Broadway entertainer Gavin Creel who will perform with the Turtle Creek Chorale. Black Tie Dinner will also honor Reverend Carol West with the Kuchling Humanitarian Award and American Airlines with the Elizabeth Birch Equality Award.

Black Tie Dinner, Inc. is a nonprofit organization that raises funds for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender supportive organizations through a premier event of empowerment, education and entertainment in partnership with the community. The event has headlined local and national celebrities and leaders such as Maya Angelou, Ann Richards, Geena Davis, Lily Tomlin, Goldie Hawn, Martin Sheen and, most recently, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Black Tie Dinner, Inc. began in Dallas in 1982 to help support the Human Rights Campaign Fund. There were 140 guests at the first Dinner, which raised $6,000. In 2009, the Dinner distributed $1.04 million to 19 local beneficiaries and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. In its 28-year history, the dinner has distributed almost $14 million.

To attend this year’s Black Tie Dinner, visit blacktie.org to learn how to become a Table Captain or Dinner Sponsor. The secure, user-friendly Black Tie Dinner website allows individuals and companies to purchase and organize tables of 10, invite table guests and make payments.

To learn more about table sales and the Table Captain process, contact Mitzi Lemons at mlemons@blacktie.org or call (972) 733-9200, ext. 7. For Sponsor information, contact Maggie McQuown at mmcquown@blacktie.org or (972)733-9200, ext. 8.