Recap of Family Equality Council 2012 Awards

When it came time to get ready  the Family Equality Council’s 2012 Awards Dinner, I had to pull myself away from the television and the laptop because I was immersed in blogging about Whitney Houston’s death.

But once I got to the Globe Theatre at Universal Studios, I was able to shift gears and enjoy this really great night.

I did interviews with Jesse Tyler Ferguson and with former U.S. Congressman Patrick Murphy (one of the night’s honorees) that I will share with you later this week.

I also got to hang out a bit with my old friend Ted Johnson (pictured with me, below) who was covering the event for Variety. I tried not to be miffed that Ted was assigned to table 7 while I was back at table 27!

We had a laugh over that.

Anyway, here is an excerpt of a story I posted over at Gay Star News. Go there to read the whole thing.

With Modern Family stars Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Eric Stonestreet in attendance, the Family Equality Council raised more than $400,000 over the weekend at a gala dinner kicking off the group’s 30th anniversary.

Ferguson, an openly gay actor who plays Mitchell on the ABC comedy, performed at the dinner while Stonestreet, who plays Cameron and is straight in real life, presented an award at the event held in the Globe Theatre at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.

‘Through Cam and Mitch, Modern Family has shown the world that you don’t have to be a man and a woman to give a child a happy and fun life,’ Stonestreet said the the star studded crowd which also included Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy, director Rob Reiner, Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, and Oscar-winning producer Bruce Cohen, among others.

Among the honorees was Chad Griffin, co-founder and board president of the American Foundation of Equal Rights, the organization which brought forth the lawsuit that resulted in the court ruling.

‘Chad is like a son to me,’ Reiner said in presenting the award to Griffin. ‘I’ve seen him grow up, I’ve seen him find his passion.’

Griffin acknowledged that it had been ‘a helluva week’ with the Prop. 8 decision. He noted that The Family Equality Council had excellent timing as it did a year ago when its dinner came right on the heals of a lower court’s decision which had declared California’s marriage ban unconstitutional.

‘Let’s hope next year we’re here after a Supreme Court victory,’ Griffin said.