A president and a queen address the HRC Cleveland gala

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland--The president of the Human Rights Campaign and an evil queen walk into the Wolstein Center on August 25.

It?s not the set-up for a joke, it was the setting of the 2012 HRC Cleveland gala, which was addressed by new HRC president Chad Griffin and Lana Parilla, who stars as the evil queen, wicked stepmother, and mayor of Storybrooke, Maine in the television show Once Upon a Time.

Griffin also visited the Cleveland LGBT Center earlier in the day. He called the 600 people at the f?te to action for the 2012 general election.

Parilla, who all but outshines the rest of the cast in her show, looked radiant as she talked about her LGBT friends and family.

The 19th annual banquet and ball also saw performances by aerialist Sora Sol. University Hospitals and Vision Video Productions were honored for their contributions to the LGBT community of northeast Ohio.

About a third of the guests went on to La Strada for the official after-party.

?While the annual HRC Cleveland gala is one of our signature events, the HRC Cleveland community has many additional events throughout the year for you to attend,? dinner co-chairs Alana Jochum and Wally Lanci noted afterwards. ?To view a list of our upcoming local happenings, people can visit http://cleveland.hrc.org. If you are interested in volunteering throughout the year or being involved in next year?s gala, please visit http://cleveland.hrc.org/volunteer.?

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