On Saturday, March 14, 2010, more than 1,100 people gathered for The Women’s Dinner Party, Fenway’s elegant attire fundraiser celebrating lesbians, bisexual women, transgender people and their friends and supporters.  The event raised nearly $270,000 in cash, pledges and in-kind support for life-saving services and programs at Fenway Health.  Comedian Kate Clinton emceed the evening’s program and equality and health care reform champion Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin received the Dr. Susan M. Love Award and VJ Kristin Korpos got the crowd on their feet for a post-dinner dance party.

The Women's Dinner Party was started in 1992 to support women's care and services at Fenway Health.  In 2010, the Women’s Dinner Party celebrated 39 years of women’s health at Fenway and helped to kick off the Decade of Women, a focused effort to continue the expansion of women’s health services, outreach, education and research at Fenway Health.

Congresswoman Baldwin was the first out lesbian elected to the US House of Representatives and represents Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District.  She is a leading advocate for universal health care, a forceful supporter of civil rights and an advocate for those in our society whose voices often go unheard.  Baldwin led successful efforts in the House to pass the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Act. As Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, she is leading efforts to advance the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and other civil rights initiatives. She is the lead author of legislation to extend benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. 

Baldwin advocates extending health care coverage to all Americans.  She introduced the Ending Health Disparities for LGBT Americans Act to fund research and take critical steps towards improving the health of LGBT Americans and their families and is working to see it included in any health care reform legislation.  She sponsored legislation providing cancer screening to low-income and uninsured women and helped lead efforts in Congress to repeal federal restrictions on stem cell research.

Each year, the Dr. Susan M. Love Award is given to honor and celebrate a woman and/or organization that has made a significant contribution to the field of women’s health.  The Love Award is given in honor of its founding recipient, Dr. Susan M. Love, a pioneer in the fields of women’s health and breast cancer.  Baldwin was honored for her work to advance LGBT equality and extend healthcare coverage to all Americans.

THANK YOU to all of our Table Captains and Event Team, our corporate sponsors, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin, Kate Clinton, VJ Kristin Korpos, our event volunteers and everyone who attended the 2010 Women’s Dinner Party for helping to make the event such a huge success!  A special thanks goes out to Event Chairs Molly Goodwin, Deb Graeber and June Kelly, whose hard work made the night possible.