A GLEH Garden Party to remember

For some reason, I’ve always missed the annual GLEH Garden Party in past years. But a persistent publicist for the event got me to put it on my calendar several weeks ago and there it stayed.

So glad it did.

This year’s event was held at beautiful Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu and it was more than worth the drive out from Silver Lake on a Sunday afternoon.

GLEH stands for Gay & Lesbian Elder Housing, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing affordable residential communities for GLBT older adults.

This year, GLEH honored Hollywood Forever Cemetery owner Tyler Cassity and philanthropist Alison Baumann with the day’s most moving moments coming when we heard from two LGBT people who live in the Triangle Square complex in Hollywood.

Triangle Square is the nation’s first affordable housing complex and activity center serving low income lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) elders.

The event had its share of celebs and I was so glad to chat with Tuc Watkins (One Life to Live), Robert Gant (Queer as Folk), Carolyn Hennesy (General Hospital), Madison Hildebrand (Million Dollar Listing), Kate Linder (The Young and the Restless) and also spotted Erin Murphy but we didn’t get a chance to gab. Erin, of course, played Tabitha on Bewitched and is always great to bump into.

I’ll be sharing some of my interviews with these folks in the coming days as well as chats I had with Houston Mayor Annise Parker and with America’s Got Talent semifinalist Jonathan Allen who did a three-song set to close the proceedings that was just about the most gorgeous thing I’ve heard in a long time.

This kid with the operatic voice has all kinds of talent and yet, the day he turned 18, his parents kicked him out of the house for being gay.

Anyway, singer-songwriter Susan Toney opened the proceedings with a beautiful set and I want to give a shout out to her new album released just last month: Love is the Cure: The Essential Collection.