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  Thank you to those of you who were able to attend our 40th Anniversary Gala: Over the Rainbow on March 6, 2020.  We were grateful our event was able to move forward, as the restrictions around COVID-19 canceled and postponed events like ours soon thereafter.  Our gala brought over 500 of us together and allowed us to celebrate 40 amazing years as an organization.  Thanks to our sponsors and individual ticket purchases, we raised over $200,000 with 85 sponsors, over a fifth of whom were brand new supporters of the BALIF gala.  Check out the photos here or on our Facebook page. We hope you had a blast, and we look forward to seeing you again soon! 

  Congratulations again to our awardees:

•  Oasis Legal Services (2020 Legal Services Award) Oasis Legal Services is a leading legal services provider for LGBTQ immigrants on the West Coast, serving hundreds of asylum seekers every year. Through holistic representation Oasis empowers our clients to ensure those fleeing persecution are protected from deportation so they can live safely and love freely. 
   
  
• Openhouse (2020 Community Service Award)  For over 20 years, Openhouse has enabled San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ seniors to overcome the unique challenges they face as they age by providing housing, direct services and community programs. Right now, they’re partnering with Mon Ami to mobilize hundreds of volunteers to address food insecurity and social isolation.  If you would like to volunteer your time, you can find more information here.
  
  
•  BALIF Founders (2020 Trailblazers Award) See the founders’ video here.

Don’t be a stranger!

The BALIF Gala is often the one time of year we can count on seeing old and new faces, whether members or not, in celebration of our wonderful organization and all the good we do for the LGBTQI legal community.  We hope you will stay connected and engaged with us!  We’ve just elected our 2020-2021 Board, and are so proud of our 2019-2020 Board and how much we have accomplished in a year!  We want to hear from you about how we can best support and serve our members through the coming months. Hope to see you at the next (virtual) happy hour. 

Amanda Hamilton & Mark Fickes
2020 Gala Committee Co-Chairs