New Hope’s Nevin Rae, leader of New Hope-Solebury High School’s newly formed Gay-Straight-Alliance and member of New Hope Celebrates, accepted the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) award for the Youth Essay Contest at the recent HRC gala on March 24th.
The dinner and awards ceremony, held at the glamorous Ritz-Carlton in Philadelphia, was attended by over 400 LGBTA community members including Daniel Brooks, New Hope Celebrate’s founder and president (pictured left); Geri Delevich, HRC Federal Club member, NHC member and New Hope Borough Council member (pictured left of Nevin;) and Ryan Fuller, New Hope Celebrate’s treasurer. Pictured right of Nevin is his proud mother and environmental activist, Hope Blaythorne.
Also in attendance were NHC’s Hope Smolin and New Hope Celebrate’s sponsors Sandy Wesley and Rori Katz.
Celebrity guests at the Dinner Gala included NBC’s “Tonight Show” Ross Matthews, award-winning actress Maria Bello, Bucks County’s former US Congressman Patrick Murphy, and HRC’s national president, Joe Solomese.
HRC, whose total membership numbers 750,000, is widely recognized as the leading LGBT legislative activist group in the US, and its most recent achievements, along with Congressman Murphy, have included successful lobbying for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a bill that banned gays from disclosure in the military.
Photo courtesy of Tara Lessard

