At the Ali Forney Center’s Annual Gala, Tommy Dorfman, Liev Schreiber, and Virtual Zohran Mamdani Raised Over $3 Million for LGBTQ+ Youth

Originally published by Vanity Fair

To attend the Ali Forney Center’s A Place at the Table gala in New York City—an annual fundraiser forLGBTQ+ youthexperiencing homelessness—is to wonder, at least initially, why it’s so hard to find, well, a place at the table. The pleasantly buzzy ballroom, cast in semi-dimmed lighting, filled with excited chatter and clinking silverware, felt like a slightly unwieldy wedding reception. VIP guests includingCynthia Nixon,Harper Steele,Tommy Dorfman, Jelani Alladin, andLouisa Jacobsongathered to recognize Chappell Roan, as well as Liev and Taylor Schreiber, with Luminary Awards. Black transgender activist Gia Love accepted the Ali Forney Award.

A few of the night’s honorees appeared virtually—fromNYC mayor Zohran Mamdani, who received a particularly warm welcome from the ballroom, and Grammy-winning pop starChappell Roan, whose absence elicited more disappointed grumbles among the crowd. But the evening’s host, Plasma, who competed on season 16 ofRuPaul’s Drag Racein 2024, livened up an hourlong cocktail hour at The Glasshouse, which bled into the seated-dinner portion just as the sun streaking through the venue’s windows began to set. “Y’all rich-rich, you’re one-percent rich. Welcome to theMet Gala,” Plasma joked ahead of the auction, with auctioneer Letitia Frye selling auction items with the vigor of Jamie Lee Curtisshilling wind chimesonReal Housewives of Beverly Hills.

Among the offerings being auctioned were an “Olympian Pour withGus Kenworthy,” the openly gay freeskier who came out a year after winning his silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Earlier this year, he finished sixth place in the men’s freestyle skiing halfpipe final at theMilano Cortina Olympics. When asked why he’d agreed to personally deliver Veuve Clicquot to the event’s highest-bidder, Kenworthy quipped: “I love free food. I love Kiehl’s,” gesturing to the sponsor-provided mini face creams that adorned each table. As the room laughed, Kenworthy added: “because LGBTQ youth deserves dignity, respect, and a safe place to stay.”

AFC president and executive director Alexander Roque underscored that sentiment, reminding attendees that LGBTQ+ youth make up nearly 40% of the homeless youth population in this country. And that each year, the Ali Forney Center—named for a queer homeless youth and advocate who was murdered in New York City in December 1997 at the age of 22—opens its doors to more than 2,000 young people ages 16 to 24 each year. “Tonight, over 400 young people are on our waiting list for a bed. Four hundred. That is not an abstract,” said an impassioned Roque. “That is 400 young souls who have known the heartache and heartbreak of family rejection. Four hundred young people standing at their own moment of decision, wondering if anyone will show up for them.”

This year’s Ali Forney Center Seat at the Table gala raised more than $3 million, according to the AFC. “It’s a very proud moment for me,” said Schreiber, an Emmy-nominated actor known for his work onRay Donovan.When he took the stage with his wife, Taylor, one audience member shouted, “Free Palestine!” to which the slightly surprised Schreiber replied, “Okay. I agree.” (In September 2025, Schreiber was among more than 1,200 in Hollywood whosigned an open letteropposing the call for a boycott of Israeli film institutions overthe war in Gaza.)

Schreiber credited Taylor, “the kindest, fullest version of a human being that I’ve ever met,” with introducing him to the organization. Wearing a red halter gown, Taylor explained that when she met the actor, “I fell in love and that love was a package deal, in my mind that’s the best kind. I got to become a stepmom…in an instant, everything I thought I knew about love changed.” Schreiber has two childrenwith Oscar-nominated actor Naomi Watts, includingKai Schreiber, who is now 17.

“My stepdaughter is transgender. She transitioned at an early age. It was not a surprise to any of us because she was the same person she had always been,” said Taylor from the stage. “Changing her pronouns didn’t change who she was inside. It just finally let the outside match. She’s a teenager now and she is thriving. She’s crushing it as a model in the fashion world and she’s one of the strongest people I have ever known.” Last year, Kaiwalked the Valentino fall 2025 runwayat Paris Fashion Week.

Schreiber has never asked his daughter “to be anything other than exactly who she is,” said Taylor. “Except for maybe someone who dresses age appropriately and turns in her homework on time. That simple, radical, unconditional love is why I keep coming back to the Ali Forney Center. My stepdaughter has parents who never let her wonder whether she was loved. Not every child gets that, but every child deserves it.”

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