The Elizabeth Taylor Party at the Lookout: A Spectacle Benefit to Honor a Great Star

There was a spectacle to honor actress Elizabeth Taylor at the Lookout bar on May 27 that rivaled their other raucous events. The Lookout is not a part of the Castro Triangle of bars that rarely allow fundraisers, and their tempting bartenders sometimes leap from behind the bar to become pageant contestants.

The party was a benefit for AIDS/LifeCycle and Project Inform, and both are worthy charities that need support. AIDS/LifeCycle is an event sponsored by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and their Executive Director Neil Giuliano conferred with co-host Donna Sachet, while the other co-host Sister Pat N Leather MC’ed. The event was sponsored by Stoli Vodka and the Lookout and a large crowd yelled enthusiastically for the performers. Sachet wowed the audience with a dance in a shimmering golden gown and a Pharaoh’s flail and shepard’s crook, that echoed dancing scenes in Taylor’s monumental film "Cleopatra."

Hunky bare-chested Stoli Men Brandon, Devin, Chad, Evan, and Bunny were persuasive at selling Jello-O shots and raffle tickets. DJ John LePage put out cools sounds and the drink specials were popular. Guests gathered around champion fundraiser Deana Dawn in awe, because of her convincing illusion of Taylor when she was at the height of her beauty. Stunning Dawn wore a faux diamond-studded white gown, with glittering bracelets on her long white gloves, with more sparkles around her neck and dangling from her ears. Café Flore manager Gary Virginia hovered nearby to protect Dawn from possibly infatuated straight men, and gay men approached reverentially to compliment her for her total effect, from her silver heels to her Hollywood fluff hairdo. Former Empress Cockatelia came out of her usual exquisite drag, as if in a tribute to Dawn, and he also commented on the fine impersonation.

Lots of much needed funds were raised for the two beneficiaries and it was an all around good time for everyone.

A White Diamond Tribute for Elizabeth Taylor at the Castro Theatre

Elizabeth Taylor had not received much in the way of thanks from the HIV/AIDS community in San Francisco that she helped so much until the night of May 27 at the Castro Theatre. Taylor Juel conceived of the benefit for Project Inform and Aaron Baldwin worked with him to coordinate the stage presentation to honor Taylor and commemorate the 30th year of AIDS.

Usually shirtless with muscles bared at street fairs and leather parties, Baldwin causes almost pathological staring by gay men and the air pressure around him seems to triple.

Project Inform works to find better treatments and a cure for HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, and helps people access information to make decisions about their health care.

The event was called a White Diamonds Tribute for Elizabeth Taylor, which referred to her White Diamonds perfume. Ads for the scent featuring Taylor in moody tropical scenes are shown in TV ads every December holiday season for the last couple years. Juel let some guests know that love was in the air at the event. His new lover was pouring the champagne that was raised in toasts to actress Taylor and he was taking Juel away to live in a Seattle love nest the next day.

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Pat N Leather spoke about his despair when he found out that he had AIDS. His despair changed to hope when Elizabeth Taylor spoke out for a cure for AIDS and for compassion for infected people. Leather challenged the large audience to be the activist that Taylor was and make a difference. Then Project Inform Executive Director Dana Van Gorder spoke about an upcoming concentrated drive to find cures for HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C in the next ten years. He said that the infections that enter 59,000 people's bodies in the U.S., and 1,000 in San Francisco every year, have to be stopped and the technology to do that is becoming possible.

Openhouse Executive Director Seth Kilbourn spoke about the overwhelming persuasive power of Eliabeth Taylor at his organization’s recent luncheon. He was a young Capitol Hill intern who watched Taylor approach curmudgeon homophobic legislators in the early 1980s and saw that their opposition to her requests for AIDS melt as she shook their hands and smiled at them. That is the kind of personal attention that Pat N Leather and Dana Van Gorder expressed when they looked out into the theater throng and spoke optimistically of a better future.