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ZACH WAHLS TO RECEIVE ELIZABETH BIRCH EQUALITY AWARD AT 32ND ANNUAL BLACK TIE DINNER

DUSTIN LANCE BLACK ANNOUNCED AS GUEST SPEAKER

DALLAS — (July 25, 2013) —Zach Wahls will receive this year’s Elizabeth Birch Equality Award, co-chairs of the 2013 Black Tie Dinner announced today. The award will be presented as part of the 32nd annual event benefiting North Texas , lesbian, bisexual and transgender supportive organizations and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.

In addition, Dustin Lance Black will be one of the featured speakers at the dinner, which will be on Saturday, November 2nd, at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel.

Zach Wahls Zach Wahls is a sixth-generation Iowan, an outspoken advocate for marriage equality, an Eagle Scout and the founder of Scouts for Equality. His testimony about his family before the Iowa House Judiciary Committee was YouTube’s most-watched political video of 2011, and he subsequently spoke in primetime at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. He is a Truman Scholar and the author of the national bestseller My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength and What Makes a Family. He lives in Iowa City, Iowa.

The Elizabeth Birch Equality Award is given to an individual, organization or company that has made a significant contribution of national scope to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Former Human Rights Campaign leader Elizabeth Birch received the first such award, as well as the distinction of having this recognition renamed in her honor. Past recipients of the Birch Award include Showtime Networks/Robert Greenblatt, Alan Cumming, Sharon Stone, Bishop V. Gene Robinson, Judy Shepard, American Airlines, decorated veteran Eric Alva and, last year, Chaz Bono.

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B L A C K T I E D I N N E R , I N C . 4015 Lemmon Ave., Ste. 4001 PMB #321 Dallas, TX 75219-3737 972-733-9200 WWW.BLACKTIE.ORG ZACH WAHLS TO RECEIVE ELIZABETH BIRCH EQUALITY AWARD | Page 2

“You may not recognize him by name, but Zach Wahls is known by millions as the teenager who gave powerful testimony to an Iowa House committee in support of his two moms,” said Black Tie Dinner Co-Chair Mitzi Lemons. “Zach offers fresh, bold thoughts on the issue of gay marriage. You’ll walk away with a new and thought-provoking perspective after hearing Zach speak.”

Dustin Lance Black Academy Award-winning screenwriter and executive producer Dustin Lance Black grew up in a devout Mormon military household in San Antonio. He finished high school in Salinas, Calif., and became deeply immersed in the theater world and graduated with honors from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television.

In 2004, he began work on the Emmy- and Golden Globe Award-nominated television series as a writer and producer, working with the program for three seasons. Black’s other works as writer include screenplays for Pedro, profiling the late AIDS activist and reality television star ; the feature A Life Like Mine, which will direct; and the big-screen adaptation of the celebrated book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.

Black won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the 2008 film Milk, a biopic of slain gay rights crusader and San Francisco Mayor Harvey Milk, directed by and starring Sean Penn.

Black is a founding board member of the American Foundation for Equal Rights and the writer of 8, a staged re-enactment of the federal trial that led to a federal court’s overturn of California’s Proposition 8.

“Over the course of the last decade, Dustin Lance Black has evolved into one of the most critically acclaimed of all Hollywood screenwriters,” said Black Tie Dinner Co-Chair Ken Morris. “From his position at the top of the Hollywood hierarchy, he consistently issues a call for equal rights, and he has been one of the rare voices from within the film industry to speak so passionately and openly about gay activism.”

Additional program elements for this year’s Black Tie Dinner will be announced at a later date.

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B L A C K T I E D I N N E R , I N C . 4015 Lemmon Ave., Ste. 4001 PMB #321 Dallas, TX 75219-3737 972-733-9200 WWW.BLACKTIE.ORG ZACH WAHLS TO RECEIVE ELIZABETH BIRCH EQUALITY AWARD | Page 3

About Black Tie Dinner Black Tie Dinner is a nonprofit organization that raises funds for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender supportive organizations serving North Texas through a premier event of empowerment, education and entertainment in partnership with the community.

Since 1982, the nation’s largest LGBT fundraising dinner has grown and prospered in a supportive environment. The evolution of our community is reflected in the yearly increases that beneficiaries have received.

The first dinner produced a $6,000 donation to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, and has grown to distribute more than $17 million to national and local beneficiaries. Black Tie Dinner continues to be the most successful dinner in the country supporting the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and is the only dinner also benefiting local beneficiaries.

The event has headlined local and national celebrities and leaders such as Marlee Matlin, Maya Angelou, Geena Davis, Lily Tomlin, , Gavin Newsom and U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin.

For more information about the Black Tie Dinner or this year’s event, visit www.blacktie.org or call 972-733-9200, ext. 1.

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B L A C K T I E D I N N E R , I N C . 4015 Lemmon Ave., Ste. 4001 PMB #321 Dallas, TX 75219-3737 972-733-9200 WWW.BLACKTIE.ORG