Among the attendees at the Oct. 21 event were (from the bottom left): GLSEN’s Executive Director Eliza Byard, Matt Bomer, PR mogul Simon Halls, Marilyn Katzenberg, Jim Parsons, recurring chair Jeffrey Katzenberg, Julia Roberts, Todd Spiewak, and NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt. Also in attendance were Tyler Oakley, soccer player Robbie Rogers, prolific TV producer Greg Berlanti, Kate Mulgrew of “Orange is the New Black” and Milo Ventimiglia of “This is Us.”
Kate Hudson (left, with Matt Bomer) was one of the night’s four honorees, alongside digital star Connor Franta, People and EW Editor-in-Chief Jess Cagle, and Target. (GLSEN also honors corporations doing the right thing.)
“Reg… Bev… Wil… here I am, back again,” Julia Roberts cracked, referencing the nickname for the Beverly Wilshire Hotel that served as a key location in “Pretty Woman.”
“I’m like a bad penny in this hotel. I just keep turning up.”
“We do a lot of work with children, my mother and I,” said Kate Hudson (with Katzenberg) said, speaking of her famous mom, Goldie Hawn. “I’m not great at taking compliments. There’s so much more work that needs to be done.”
Co-chair Roberts called the benefit one of her three favorite nights of the year, along with her birthday. She presented an award to EW and People’s Jess Cagle, who, she joked, she “first met 87 years ago.”
“I work with a lot of younger kids. My audience is based on younger kids,” said Connor Franta (far left), recipient of the #GameChanger Award. “GLSEN helps these kids come out earlier and feel safer to be themselves. It hits home with me.”
Franta posed with Hudson, GLSEN’s Byard, and Jess Cagle.
NBCU’s everywhere-man Chip Sullivan with GLSEN’s Eliza Byard.
