POWER UP celebrated its fifth anniversary this weekend with a splashy gala at the Beverly Hills Hotel. The event honored Ilene Chaiken (creator of The L Word) with the 2005 Artistry Award, and also recognized this year's “10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz.”

Each year, POWER UP, a non-profit organization designed to promote gay women in entertainment, holds this event to raise funds for its film programs, which support its mission to "promote the visibility and integration of gay women in entertainment, the arts, and all forms of media." 

The event started at 6 pm with a silent auction and celebrity pre-party. Present were  Guinevere Turner, (The L Word), Honey Labrador (Queer Eye for the Straight Girl), model/actor Jenny Shimizu, musician Bitch (of Bitch and Animal) Darryl Stephens (Noah’s Arc), comedian Margaret Cho, actresses Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer) and J. Karen Thomas (Promtroversy) and many other artists and executives from the entertainment industry.

Jessica Sharzer, former POWER UP grant winner (Fly Cherry) and writer/director of the upcoming film about lesbian singer Dusty Springfield, was also at the pre-party. While it is still too early in the production process to go into much detail, she did tell AfterEllen.com that, “the film focuses on the period between 1956 and 1970, when there were a lot of cultural shifts going on in England—and she was right in the center of it. She was a very modern woman, and she dealt with coming out (in 1970) years before k.d lang and Melissa Etheridge.” The movie is slated to begin filming this summer.

The pre-party was followed by dinner and a video presentation of the films made by previous winners of POWER UP filmmaking grants. Out actor Robert Gant (Queer as Folk) introduced the clips, and spoke about his own experience appearing in Billy’s Dad is a Fudge-Packer, one of the winners of a 2004 POWER UP grant. 

Broadway and television star Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked, The West Wing), who plays gay in the upcoming Dusty Springfield biopic and in Running With Scissors (2006), introduced each of the “10 Amazing Gay Women” honorees, including director Jamie Babbit (But I’m a Cheerleader), Manager/Producer Lauren Lloyd (Cellular), actor/comedian Jane Lynch (Best in Show), Executive Vice President of Showtime Gwen Marcus (Queer as Folk and The L Word), writer/filmmaker Roberta Munroe (Dani & Alice), Senior Vice President of Original Programming at LOGO TV Eileen Opatut, writer/director Angela Robinson (D.E.B.S.), Entertainment Editor Jenny Stewart (PlanetOut and Gay.com), Manager/Producer Dannielle Thomas (the Dusty Springfield project with Universal Pictures), and Entrepreneur/Marketer Jenny Wall ( HBO’s Angels in America).

Chenoweth broke from her script when presenting the POWER UP award to her own manager, Dannielle Thomas. She tearfully credited Thomas with encouraging her to make the move from New York to Los Angeles, a change of scenery that proved to be very fortuitous for her career. Chenoweth brought the audience to their feet when she serenaded Thomas with a heartfelt rendition of 40’s torch song “You’ll Never Know.”

Current L Word star Sarah Shahi was joined by upcoming third season cast mates Daniela Sea and Alexandra Hedison when she introduced Ilene Chaiken. Chaiken took the stage and spoke pointedly about how the absence of queer stories in the popular media forces GLBT people to “transpose” themselves when consuming popular culture. As an example, she recalled identifying with Montgomery Clift (and not Elizabeth Taylor) when she first saw the film A Place in the Sun (1951), imagining a kiss with his raven-haired co-star. She made a thoughtful and inspiring speech about the power and necessity of representing gay and lesbian lives in popular culture. 

Chaiken and many other honorees and presenters spoke of the currently grim political climate in America, and the opposition gay and lesbian filmmakers face in telling their stories. With typical good humor, honoree Jane Lynch insisted that the tide has turned in a more positive way, and that the progress we have made in becoming both more visible and better represented in the media will be impossible to undo. She reminded the audience that Founder Stacy Codikow and everyone else at POWER UP has played an invaluable role in this progress.

Surveying the crowded ballroom at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and hearing the long list of mainstream and independent credits held by those being honored, it’s impossible to take issue with Lynch’s upbeat attitude. The growth of POWER UP in only its first five years of existence is powerful evidence of the increasing number of out lesbians in entertainment, the arts, and media, as well as our expanding influence.

Visit POWER UP's website at power-up.net, and find more photos at L-Word.com