The Best Looks from Lambda Legal’s 50th Anniversary Celebration

Editorial
Written By Sonny Oram

Lambda Legal, the national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV, celebrated their 50th Anniversary at The Lot at Formosa in Los Angeles, Calif. and Moonlight Studios in New York on Wednesday, October 18.

Since 1973, Lambda Legal has been a pivotal in the fight against HIV discrimination, anti-gay bullying, marriage equality, social security for queer couples, identity documents for transgender people, employment discrimination, and more.

“No matter what effort has been launched to force us back into the closet or to undercut our fully lived equality – we have beaten back those efforts in the court of law.” said Kevin Jennings, CEO of Lambda Legal. “Now more than ever, the LGBTQ+ community must and will stand up and fight for our rights. At Lambda Legal, we vow to keep fighting for the next 50 years to protect and advance our rights and freedoms.” 

Some landmark cases include a victory in 1983 that prevented the eviction of Dr. Joseph Sonnabend and his clinic for treating HIV-positive patients. In 1996, Lambda Legal established the rights of gay students to be protected from abuse in schools, marking a significant milestone in the fight against anti-gay bullying.

The organization’s dedicated team continues to fight anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, particularly anti-transgender policies in more than 27 states across the country challenging discrimination in healthcare, school policies and curricula, public school sports programs, access to school restrooms and other facilities, and access to accurate identity documents.

In honor of all their amazing contributions to LGBTIQIA+ rights, here are our favorite looks from the celebration! Los Angeles guests included Arisce Wanzer, Azariah Southworth, Blair Imani, Daniel Franzese, Jeff Consoletti, Moises Zamora, and Rose Montoya. New York guests included Alex Newell, Benjamin Freemantle, Daria Dee, Desmond is Amazing, Dimitri Moise, Gabe Gonzalez, Jeff Hiller, Michael Judson Berry, and Murray Hill.

Los Angeles:

 

Blair Imani

 
 
 
 
 
 

Azariah Southworth (right)

 
 
 

New York

Desmond is Amazing

 
 
 

Alex Newell

 
 

Daria Dee

 

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Sonny Oram

Boston-based multidisciplinary artist Sonny Oram is the founder of Qwear, a leading voice in the queer fashion movement for more than 15 years, and the author of the foreword to Queer and Trans Fashion Brands: Resistance and Revolution in the 21st Century (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025). His work has been featured in HuffPost, BuzzFeed, Design*Sponge, and QTYPE Magazine and he's spoken on panels at MIT, South by Southwest, and Simmons Nursing School.

His earliest published work was created at age ten: a series of collages made from cut-up magazines, accompanied by original text exploring themes of gender, cultural conditioning, predatory advertising, and media objectification. In 2025, images of these collages were published in Queer and Trans Fashion Brands: Resistance and Revolution (Bloomsbury Press) and the Fashion, Style & Popular Culture journal.

Through Qwear, Sonny has launched influential campaigns, including the award-winning #ThisIsWhatAsexualLooksLike with Yasmin Benoit, and continues to create spaces for underrepresented communities across internet and print media. He has also used search engine optimization (SEO) to increase the visibility and diversity of queer representation in online search results, helping terms such as “androgynous style,” “bisexual style,” and “asexual” reflect a broader range of identities and experiences.

https://sonnyoram.com
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