Nashville’s LGBT community will dig into the past at its 15th Annual Human Rights Campaign Equality Dinner early next year. The event – sponsored by Bridgestone – will happen Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010 at 6 p.m. at Loews Vanderbilt Hotel.

The theme for the 2010 Equality Dinner is Tribute: 15 Years of Impact. It will celebrate the contributions and accomplishments of everyone the HRC has honored since its first Equality Dinner 15 years ago.

Event co-chair Debra Hyslop saw first-hand the positive difference those past honorees made when she moved back to Nashville from Canada in 2004.

“It was like family to me,” she said. “It was so overwhelming how much the gay community had grown, how far we’d come… I was blown away.”

Tickets are on-sale now at the “early bird” rate of $150 per ticket. The deadline to purchase early tickets is Dec. 31, 2009.

“The purpose of the “early bird” tickets is to make our dinner available to as many people as possible,” said co-chair Jeremy Davis. “We also have fellowship and scholarship programs to help people who otherwise might not be able to come.”

The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian and gay political organization in the United States. The HRC envisions an America where gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are ensured of their basic equal rights—and can be open, honest and safe at home, at work, and in the community. HRC has more than 500,000 members, both gay and non-gay; all committed to making this vision a reality.

For tickets and to learn more about the 2010 HRC Equality Dinner, go to theequalitydinner.com.

“This is no 'upper-crust' or elitist event,” Davis said. “We are here with a mission to fight for equality for the LGBT community and that requires every individual doing what they can with what they have.”