Los Angeles LGBT Center Honors Hailie Sahar and Elegance Bratton, Celebrates Black Queer Angelenos with ‘Highly Favored’
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Community dance party paid tribute to the legacy of Jewel’s Catch One and the impact of Black Queer Joy.
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Photo courtesy of Los Angeles LGBT Center | Jess Lobo Gomes
LOS ANGELES, February 23, 2026—Hundreds gathered under the night stars on February 21st for Highly Favored, the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s annual Black History Month celebration honoring LA’s Black queer culture and nightlife. Held at The Village at Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood, this year’s event transformed the courtyard into a vibrant tribute to legacy, resistance, and joy.
Inspired by the legacy of Jewel’s Catch One—the nightclub founded by the late Jewel Thais-Williams—Highly Favored returned as a joyous outdoor dance party, honoring the dance floors and creative spaces where generations of Black queer Angelenos have built sanctuary, culture, and connection.
The main stage program featured special recognition of actress and advocate Hailie Sahar and award-winning filmmaker Elegance Bratton, two artists whose work continues to preserve cultural memory and expands representation for Black queer and trans communities across film and television.
In her opening remarks, Giovanna Fischer, Chief Equity Officer at the Los Angeles LGBT Center, reflected on the significance of honoring Black queer nightlife as both celebration and resistance.
“Highly Favored is an ode to Black queer nightlife. In Los Angeles, Black queer nightlife has always been more than entertainment—it has been survival, creativity, and a cradle of resistance for our community,” said Fischer.
Sahar, best known for her groundbreaking role as Lulu on FX’s Pose, was honored for advancing visibility and advocacy for Black trans women in the entertainment industry and beyond.
“Our ancestors did not fight for applause. They fought for survival. They fought so that rooms like this could exist. So that centers like this could save lives. So that someone like me could stand here freely,” said Sahar during her acceptance remarks. “And in today’s political climate—where our rights are debated, our identities are questioned, and division has felt louder than unity—their courage feels more urgent than ever. This is not the time for fragmentation within our community. This is the time to put aside differences, to lock arms across generations, across identities, across experiences, and stand together.”
Bratton, whose work includes the Independent Spirit Award-winning documentary Pier Kids, the ballroom series My House, Move Ya Body: The Birth of House, and the A24 feature The Inspection, was recognized for centering Black queer and trans lives on screen.
“When power fears its own decline, it lashes out. When it senses its grip slipping, it looks for someone to blame. They fear for their survival—so they decide to challenge ours. They believe that if they shrink our spaces, they shrink our future. They are wrong,” said Bratton. “What we are witnessing is not the rise of something unstoppable. It is the desperation of something dying. You cannot put us back in the closet because we refuse to go. You cannot erase trans people because they are here. You cannot shame Black queer, Latino queer, poor queer, immigrant queer people into disappearance because we have already survived worse. Joy is not frivolous—it is strategy. Visibility is not vanity—it is survival. Being together is not indulgence—it is power.”
Highly Favored also featured JOY!, a gallery exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist and visual storyteller Nikko LaMere, currently on view at the Center’s Advocate & Gochis Galleries until February 28. The exhibition explores Black queer identity and worldbuilding through the visual language of nightlife.
At a time when LGBTQ+ communities nationwide continue to face coordinated legislative attacks, Highly Favored stood as a powerful reminder that gathering in joy is not escapism: it is resistance. Through art, music, and community, the event reaffirmed that Black queer nightlife remains a vital force in shaping culture and sustaining collective care.
More information about the Center’s life-saving work across health, social services, culture and education, and advocacy can be found at lalgbtcenter.org.
Highly Favored 2026 is made possible by Official Sponsors ADP and United Airlines.
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About the Los Angeles LGBT Center
Since 1969, the Los Angeles LGBT Center has cared for, championed, and celebrated LGBTQ+ individuals and families in Los Angeles and beyond. Today the Center’s nearly 800 employees provide services for more LGBTQ+ 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 LGBTQ+ people thrive as healthy, equal, and complete members of society. Learn more at lalgbtcenter.org