Donatella Versace Named Global Ambassador of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, Hosts Celebration with Dwyane Wade
Joined by Versace ambassador, three-time NBA championship winner, and LGBTQ+ ally Dwyane Wade, Ms. Versace hosted a star-studded evening raising funds and awareness for the world’s largest LGBTQ+ organization
Event Photography
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Courtesy of Los Angeles LGBT Center
LOS ANGELES, March 12, 2024—Over the weekend, the Los Angeles LGBT Center once again welcomed Donatella Versace, the Chief Creative Officer of Versace, to their history-making Anita May Rosenstein Campus. Ms. Versace was joined by basketball legend, activist, and LGBTQ+ ally Dwyane Wade to co-host a fundraiser for the Center that resulted in $700,000 raised for the organization’s life-saving services. Ms. Versace and Mr. Wade also presented an award to one of the Center’s youth clients, Jade Williams.
The event was made possible with the generous support of the Center’s partners, TikTok and Tinder.
Ms. Versace last visited the Center in March to launch a scholarship program for LGBTQ+ students interested in careers in fashion. Mr. Wade’s support of the Center started with the Trans Wellness Center, and then later, a significant donation to the organization’s affordable housing for LGBTQ+ seniors.
During their visit, Mr. Wade and Ms. Versace sat down for a fireside chat with clients at the Center’s Youth Academy moderated by the Center’s Chief Strategy Officer, Phillip Picardi–covering career milestones, advice for young people, and their unrelenting support for the LGBTQ+ movement.
“It’s an honor to become the first-ever global ambassador of the Los Angeles LGBT Center,” said Donatella Versace. “My first visit to the Center is one of my favorite memories of L.A.—I truly felt like I had come home. I got to shine a light on the organization’s beautiful clients, and I’m so proud to formalize and continue this partnership so I can magnify the life-changing work of the world’s largest LGBTQ+ nonprofit.”
Building on her ongoing partnership with the organization, the brand Versace donated $50,000 in support of the Center. Onstage at the event, Mr. Wade announced that he would be matching Versace’s gift to support healthcare, legal aid, housing, food and nutrition, education, employment, and more to LGBTQ+ people in need.
“I’m beyond proud to be supporting the Center. There are young folks who need love, and who don’t find it at home, so they find it here,” said Dwyane Wade. “We all have a responsibility to keep places like the Center open and thriving, because they do the work nobody else will.”
“These are two individuals who do not just talk the talk; they walk the walk. Both of them just finished a beautiful conversation in our Youth Academy talking to our young people. Both of them are on the frontlines of our fights for equality and acceptance. And both of them are heroes to our Center, and I’m sure, to many of you,” said Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Joe Hollendoner.
At the event, Ms. Versace and Mr. Wade presented the Emerging Icon Award to Jade Williams, a client of Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Youth Center since January 2023. Jade arrived at the Center in search of a safe, stable home and has since completed the Center’s workforce development program, receiving training and internship placement in the beauty industry.
“More than just a roof over my head and warm meals, what I got was unconditional love and the validation I was desperately searching for… My Center family is my home. Through their encouragement, I took the first step towards rebuilding my life–thank you Ms. Donatella and the Versace team– for helping me step into my main character era,” said Center youth client, Jade Williams.
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About the Los Angeles LGBT Center
Since 1969 the Los Angeles LGBT Center has cared for, championed, and celebrated LGBT individuals and families in Los Angeles and beyond. Today the Center’s nearly 800 employees provide services for more LGBT people than any other organization in the world, offering programs, services, and global advocacy that span four broad categories: Health, Social Services and Housing, Culture and Education, Leadership and Advocacy. We are an unstoppable force in the fight against bigotry and the struggle to build a better world; a world in which LGBT people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org.