The Live & Let Live Alano Club’s 22nd annual gala takes place Saturday, Jan. 28, at The Center beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Stepping Stone executive director Cheryl Houk will receive the Lifetime Service Award from the LGBT Recovery Alliance. Four women from Kustom Bookkeeping – Deshe Skiles-Lohr, Joan Bush, Cheryll Hammar and Colleen Skiles – will receive Lifetime Service Awards from LLLAC for their 15 years of service to the club providing accounting and tax services at no cost. Gay & Lesbian Times publisher Michael Portantino will receive the Friend of the Alano Club award.

Dinner will be prepared by Chef Axel and the evening features live entertainment. Tickets are $85 general admission and $150 VIP. A reception for VIP guests takes place at 6:00 p.m.

Business formal attire is recommended. For more information, call (619) 997-4383, (619) 497-1702 or (619) 246-6807.

The mission of LLLAC is to provide a safe, clean and sober environment to allow 12-step recovery programs, as well as friends and family, to gather for support, community and individual growth.

Local board members of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund will host their annual luncheon on Friday, Feb. 10, at the Bahia Resort Hotel, where they will present San Diego City Councilmember Toni Atkins with their Gay and Lesbian Leadership Award. The luncheon will also feature San Antonio, Texas, City Councilmember Elena Guajardo.

In the San Antonio City Council race in June 2005, the Victory Fund conducted an independent expenditure campaign to help Guajardo with her successful campaign. Guajardo captured 55 percent of the vote. She is the first gay or lesbian to hold elected office in San Antonio, the eighth largest city in the U.S.

Under San Antonio law, organizations such as the Victory Fund are allowed to set up and raise funds separate from a particular candidate’s efforts, as long as the independent committee doesn’t coordinate and communicate activities with the candidate. Victory Fund created a specific-purpose political committee in San Antonio and invested $20,000, which was spent on phone banking and mailers.

“Victory’s team is comprised of forward-thinking, campaign professionals,” said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Victory Fund. “At the Victory Fund, we intend to continue to utilize and expand our efforts to find opportunities where we can offer voters all the information and details they need to know about the incredibly gifted lesbian and gay people who are stepping up to run for public office in communities across the country.”

The Victory Fund will present Atkins with the Gay and Lesbian Leadership Award for her service as acting mayor during 2005. For five months during 2005, San Diego became the largest city in the U.S. with an openly gay or lesbian mayor. After the resignation of Mayor Dick Murphy, District 3 Councilmember Atkins was unexpectedly asked by her colleagues to serve as deputy and acting mayor of San Diego from July to December 2005.

During Atkins’ tenure, she built a strong relationship with the Navy mayor, oversaw the city’s reaction to Hurricane Katrina victims, and oversaw the transition to the strong-mayor form of government.

There are currently 352 GLBT elected officials in the United States, serving from local office to the U.S. Congress. Of those, approximately 50 percent serve at the local legislative level. More than a dozen cities in the U.S. have had openly gay or lesbian mayors, including San Diego, Chula Vista and Palm Springs; Providence, R.I.; Casper, Wyo.; Wilton Manors, Fla.; Northampton, Mass.; and Key Biscayne, Fla.

The luncheon takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $50. Call (858) 539-7610 or visit www.victoryfund.org for more information. A limited number of tickets are available for hosts ($100/$150) and sponsors ($250). The event is entirely underwritten, with 100 percent of all ticket sales going directly to the Victory Fund.

On Jan. 12, the San Diego chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans elected their board of directors for 2006. The members of the board will be: Matt Peterson, president; Clif Pait, vice president; Chad Terry, secretary/treasurer; Brad Hunsaker, president emeritus; and Ralph Denney, membership and logistics.

Both Peterson and Pait were previous members of the board and are now continuing in positions of greater responsibility. The elections will be confirmed at the next meeting in February. For more information on the local chapter, visit www.lcrsd.org.

The Center will offer Spanish-speaking hours in its David Bohnett Cyber Center each Saturday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., beginning Jan. 28. The hours are dedicated to monolingual or primarily Spanish speakers, and there will be volunteers who are fluent in Spanish to assist participants. There is no cost to use the Cyber Center.

“Having specially dedicated hours for people who primarily speak Spanish is an extremely valuable resource,” said Carolina Ramos, coordinator of Latino/a services at The Center. “These cyber center hours will help people gain essential access to the Internet in Spanish.”

The Center’s David Bohnett Cyber Center is located at 3909 Centre St. For more information or to volunteer, contact Eddie Valtierra, volunteer resources coordinator, at (619) 692-2077 ext. 111 or e-mail evaltierra@thecentersd.org.

The board of directors of the San Diego Men’s Chorus selected Jerry Foust to lead the group as its artistic director. Foust began the position in early January, and his first major charge is to prepare the chorus for its landmark 20th anniversary concert, which is scheduled for April 22 and 23 at the Stephen and Mary Birch North Park Theatre.

The San Diego Men’s Chorus is the areas oldest and largest GLBT arts organization, and is a member of the international Gay & Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA). Foust had served as assistant director since June 2004.

A native of Indiana, Foust holds a degree in music education from Butler University’s Jordan College of Fine Arts. During his undergraduate years, Foust performed in the premiere concert of the Indianapolis Men’s Chorus, sparking a long-term affiliation with GALA Choruses, including serving as the assistant director of the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus.

In 2000, Foust founded Opus Q – The East Bay Men’s Chorale. In 2001, he was appointed interim artistic director of the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco, the world’s oldest self-identified GLBT mixed choral ensemble.

Foust currently serves as a classroom music director in the Del Mar Union School District, and is enrolled as a graduate student at San Diego State University.

Christopher Allen, former artistic director, resigned for personal reasons in January after nearly 16 years of service to the organization.

The San Diego Men’s Chorus has served the community for two decades and is accepting new members for its spring concert season. An open rehearsal for new members takes place on Monday, Jan. 30, at 7:00 p.m. at All Saints Episcopal Church in Hillcrest. For more information, call (619) 296-SONG or visit www.sdmc.org.

The first annual San Diego Leather Community Awards will take place Saturday, Feb. 4, at 7:00 p.m. at the Arts and Entertainment Center, located at 3026 University Ave. in North Park.

The six award categories are: Man of the Year, Woman of the Year, Organization of the Year, Business of the Year, Small Event of the Year and Large Event of the Year.

The awards were created to locally recognize those who make an impact in their respective communities, at home, in San Diego and elsewhere. Support is received by local businesses, organizations and members of the GLBT community. Admission is free.

The awards will take place each year in February, prior to the Pantheon of Leather Awards and San Diego Leather Pride Week in March.

2006 nominations are due Jan. 31. E-mail nominations to sdawards@cox.net or call Mike Russell at (619) 820-1165. Leather attire is not required to attend.