Trevor Project
Scores Big With Cracked Xmas

California's passage of the same-sex marriage ban Proposition 8 was a recurring theme running through Cracked Xmas 11, the annual holiday fund-raiser for the teen help line the Trevor Project.

Held at Los Angeles's Wiltern Theater, the December 7 event brought thousands out for what the Trevor Project describes as its annual "evening of irreverent comedy, music, and awards." One of the charity's main fund-raisers, Cracked Xmas helps the Trevor Project maintain its 24-7 crisis and suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ youths. Since its inception in 1998, Trevor has taken over 100,000 phone calls.

After opening the show with a performance from the traveling production of the Tony Award-winning Spring Awakening, comedian Wanda Sykes was introduced by Kath & Kim stars Selma Blair and Mikey Day.

Sykes, who recently came out at a post-election Prop. 8 protest in Las Vegas, got a standing ovation when she came onstage.

"It's like you've never seen a black lesbian before," Sykes quipped.

During a stand-up routine that referenced everything from Michelle Obama's "nice butt" to Sykes's own battle with her stomach roll ("I call her Esther," Sykes said, "my Esther roll"), the comedian touched on Prop. 8. Sykes ridiculed the arguments put forth by Prop. 8 supporters that banning same-sex marriage was necessary to protect traditional marriage.

"The only marriage that needs protecting is ours," she said to cheers from the audience. "Churches need to stick to church business," Sykes added, apparently referencing the Mormon Church and other religious organizations that were big Prop. 8 supporters. "Why don't you buy food kitchens pork and beans?"

Bravo reality TV stars Rachel Zoe and her assistant Brad helped out during an onstage auction with packages that included a Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams $10,000 shopping spree, round-trip tickets to Australia from Qantas Airlines, and a day of celebrity styling from Zoe. As the auction finished, presenter Anne Hathaway took the stage and added an unexpected auction item: herself. Hathaway said she had decided on the spot to offer to host a night on the town, during which she would get the highest bidder "shitfaced." After some fevered bidding, Hathaway sold for $12,000.

"That was really nice for me," she said.

Scrubs star Sarah Chalke presented Lifetime Networks with the Trevor Hope Award, accepted by Lifetime executive JoAnn Alfano, who gave Chalke props for appearing as the "pretty Mormon girl" in Marc Shaiman's recent Internet sensation Prop. 8: The Musical. Alfano spoke of Lifetime's commitment to inclusive programming, including the upcoming TV movie Prayers for Bobby, an adaptation of the Leroy Aarons book profiling Mary Griffith, a religious woman who became an LGBT activist after her gay son Bobby committed suicide. Alfano spoke of her own recent marriage to her partner of 14 years ("it was a very long engagement") and her belief that "Bobby Griffith might be alive today" if Trevor had existed when Griffith was contemplating killing himself.

Pop star Fantasia also performed, having a roadie help her out of her high heels so that she could come off the stage and dance with audience members while she sang "Purple Rain." Fantasia finished up her set with an a capella version of Willie Nelson's "You Were Always on My Mind."

Emmy winner Leslie Jordan talked about his experiences growing up in Tennessee as the son of a U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. In contrasting his father's military persona to his own, Jordan said, "I fell out of the womb and into my mother's heels." He recalled a Christmas when all he wanted was a bride doll. He explained that years later his mother told him his father, who initially refused to buy the doll, spent hours on Christmas Eve searching for one. When Jordan saw the doll on Christmas morning, he reported, "I squatted on the floor and peed."

Hathaway returned to the stage to present Sigourney Weaver with the Trevor Life Award. The Oscar-nominated actress stars in Lifetime's Prayers for Bobby, which Weaver said was a powerful learning experience, because she discovered many close gay friends still have complicated relationships with their own families.

Weaver thanked the Griffith family for sharing their story with the world. "They thought they were doing the right thing," Weaver said, noting that the Griffiths' church had told them their son would burn in a lake of fire for being gay. "That's Christianity for you," she said.

The Griffiths' story still has resonance today, Weaver said. "Prop. 8 showed all of us the roots of this kind of ignorance and bigotry." While Weaver spoke about the larger issue of Prop. 8, she noted she had been thinking about Bobby Griffith during the evening's ceremonies: "I think he would have had a wonderful time being here."