Join us as we recognize the community members and organizations who make history every day.

The History Project, Boston’s LGBTQ archives, is pleased to announce John Ward as our 2021 HistoryMaker Awards honoree and Tre'Andre Valentine as our 2021 Lavender Rhino honoree.

John Ward became Boston’s first openly gay male attorney in 1977. In 1978, he founded GLAD - Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (now GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders) after undercover police targeted, entrapped, and arrested gay patrons of the Boston Public Library. In another first, in 1995, Ward was the first openly gay male lawyer to argue in front of the United States Supreme Court in Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Group of Boston. Ward has fought for LGBTQ rights throughout his career and GLAD brought marriage equality to Massachusetts in 2004 and the United States in 2015.

Tre’Andre Valentine is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition and formerly managed community engagement with The Network/La Red. Valentine’s impact on Boston’s queer and trans community is unsurpassed, from his efforts to organize trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people to empower and advocate for themselves through building trans leadership, to his advocacy for equity and equal access at all levels and all intersections of identity, especially for trans and queer people of color.

The 2021 HistoryMaker Awards will take place in person at the St. Botolph Club. A virtual option is available for those unable to make it to Boston or who feel more comfortable attending from home.

We are monitoring COVID-19 and state recommendations. Masks are required for in-person attendees and must be worn at all times except when eating or drinking. All in-person attendees must attest that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Thank you for your cooperation and support of The History Project.

Host Committee Opportunities are Available from $100 to $5,000!

The HistoryMaker Awards is The History Project’s largest fundraising initiative of the year and we need your help! Host Committee members are asked to encourage friends, family, and colleagues to attend the HistoryMaker Awards and make sponsorship connections. In return, we offer a number of benefits to our hosts. Thank you for your support!

Corporate and Non-Profit Sponsorship Opportunities are also available from $500 to $10,000!

Please email Executive Director Joan Ilacqua at Joan.Ilacqua@historyproject.org with any questions.