Denver, CO – One Colorado, the state’s leading advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) Coloradans and their families will host their annual gala on Saturday, August 20th from 6pm–10pm at the Denver Art Museum to honor individuals and organizations who have made substantive contributions to LGBTQ+ Coloradans and their families.

‍2022 Prism Award Recipients

• Barb Cardell – Positive Women’s Network, CORA
• Goddess Tyescha – Inside Out Youth Services
• Amayas Gonzalez – Youth Activist
• Commissioner Michael Conway – Division of Insurance

The evening features a silent auction, cocktail reception, hosted bar, heavy hors d’oeuvres and an awards ceremony with special guest speakers, delectable desserts, and champagne. Tickets and information can be found at www.theprismawards.org.Why Prism Awards?A prism refracts light into a spectrum of colors. For One Colorado, a prism represents our foundational community, the essential values of clarity and transparency, and the necessity of public awareness and engagement to illuminate a rainbow representing a multi-dimensional society. The Prism Awards reflects One Colorado's efforts to amplify inclusive and intersectional work, advancing equality for all LGBTQ+ Coloradans and their families.

“Now is the time for our community to come together to fill our hearts and minds with love, power, and connection,” said Nadine Bridges (she, her, hers), One Colorado Executive Director. “The Prism Awards provides us the opportunity to build energy that will propel us forward as we embrace the work ahead. This year One Colorado is honoring four community leaders who are uniquely driven to uplift the LGBTQ+ community and make collective, transformative change. We look forward to celebrating them!”

About the 2022 Prism Award Recipients

‍Barb Cardell (they/them) is an educator, activist, and advocate living in Boulder, Colorado. Barb is engaged in local, statewide, national and global HIV issues and currently serves on the Governor-appointed statewide Colorado Alliance for HIV Prevention and Education. Barb co-founded PWN USA CO, a Colorado-based advocacy group for ALL self-identified women living with HIV in the state of Colorado. Barb is a founding member and served as the Vice-chair of the US Persons Living with HIV Caucus (USPLHIV Caucus), now in an Emeritus role. Barb is the Legislative Chair of the Colorado Organizations Responding to AIDS (CORA) and led HIV criminalization reform which modernized HIV statutes and repealed two criminal statutes that targeted people living with HIV.

‍Goddess Tyeshca (they/them) is Black New York Rican raised in Harlem who began community organizing at 16 years of age, which led them to become the President of the local college campus NAACP. Throughout their organizing career they have used poetry as a medium of expression, growing their understanding of healing and using art as a tool of enlightenment towards their journey. Goddess uses their experiences of all their intersectionalities to express theirself as a Queer Genderfluid Black Afro-Latinx product of the crack era and first generational Puerto Rican parents. They thrive to invest time in understanding communities and ignite the power they have and give tools to pull in more power for the community who have been stripped of their own narrative. Graduating with a Dual Masters from Fordham University in Education, they use multiple expressions while teaching young people to use their voice to create change. Goddess currently works as an amplifier to create safe space for LGBTQ+ youth and build capacity with compassion and grace to eradicate racism, homophobia and the oppression of people at Inside Out Youth Services.

‍Amayas Gonzalez (they/them) was born and raised in Colorado and was a member of One Colorado’s GSA Leadership Council from 2019-2020. They are the first youth to receive an award from One Colorado. Being the activist and trans person they are, Amayas served as a student supporter for their Gender & Sexuality Alliance, and fought to get a gender-neutral bathroom and to change the dress code from uniform to “free dress” at their school. Amayas has also worked with the Transgender Law Center’s Gender Justice Leadership Program and is currently sitting on the Roses Youth National Council.

‍Commissioner Michael Conway (he/him) was appointed as Colorado Insurance Commissioner by Governor Jared Polis on December 21, 2018, and was confirmed to this position by the Colorado State Senate on January 22, 2019. Prior to this, Conway served as interim Commissioner, a position he was appointed to by Governor Hickenlooper in January 2018. As Commissioner, Conway serves as the chief executive of the Division of Insurance and oversees the regulation of the insurance industry in Colorado. His role brings together consumers, the insurance industry and other stakeholders to create an inclusive, firm and fair regulatory approach to all lines of insurance such as auto, health, homeowner, life, property and casualty, title and workers’ compensation. In 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved gender-affirming care in the individual and small group health insurance markets as part of Colorado’s Essential Health Benefit (EHB) benchmark, a life saving and innovative update that would not have been possible without the leadership of the Commissioner Conway.