Distinguished Service Award to Brian Watson
Presented by GLAA Secretary Mitch Wood
GLAA 37th Anniversary ReceptionWashington Plaza Hotel
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Good evening. My name is Mitch Wood, GLAA Secretary for 2008, and it is my pleasure to present the final award this evening. Our last honoree, Brian P. Watson, is a native of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma—and we are pleased that his mother, Darlene, has traveled to be with us tonight to celebrate her son’s accomplishments.
Brian came to Washington after completing a medical assistant program at Delaware County Community College in Philadelphia in 2002. Watson is an activist in the areas of social justice, youth, LGBT issues, and HIV/AIDS. He is President of the D.C. Coalition of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Men and Women, where he has worked on its revitalization and organized numerous community events. He is Director of Programs for Transgender Health Empowerment, and works part time at Charlie’s Place, a homeless breakfast program in Dupont Circle. He has served on the Regional Health Services HIV/AIDS Planning Council, LGBT Executive Advisory Board, and the Mayor’s HIV/AIDS Advisory Board, and is a former board member of Youth Pride Alliance.
During his years in Washington, Brian has organized the D.C. Coalition’s Kwanzaa 2005 celebration and helped with the Million More Movement Unity Weekend. He is a member of Covenant Baptist Church, and participates in many groups, including the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance, the Greater Washington Urban League, and the DC Black Pride Planning Committee, and he serves as Chief Operating Officer of the Black National Pageantry System. Last year, in recognition of his contributions, Brian was recognized as a Capital Pride Hero.
Currently, he is planning to return to school at Howard University where he will pursue his Master’s in Divinity. He is also leading an effort to establish, in his words, “through much advocating and through much work,” a home for homeless LGTB youth in Northeast DC. He expects the home, which will serve clients between the ages 16-24, to open within the next month
I invite you all to read this week’s Metro Weekly article to discover more about Brian’s legacy. At age 26, Brian is among the youngest recipients of GLAA’s Distinguished Service Award. As a fitting conclusion to my introduction, I will quote Earline Budd, one of Brian’s mentors, who spoke to Metro Weekly about Brian’s experience and maturity: “Communities can learn that it's not so much about the age in terms of one being young, it's about what one aspires to be.”
Congratulations, Brian!
