Tribble, Collins to be honored

Editor’s note: Go here for a more in-depth look at Black Pride.

This year’s Black Pride honorees will join an elite group of local leaders.

At a ceremony tonight at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza Hotel, Ron Collins and Khadijah Tribble will receive 2011 Welmore Cook Community Service Awards from the board of directors of Black Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, Inc. The awards are named after one of the co-founders of D.C. Black Pride.

Ron Collins accepts a Stein Club award in 2007. (Washington Blade file photo)

Both honorees say they’re happy to be recognized.

“I feel very honored and proud,” Collins, director of the D.C. Office of Boards and Commissions, says. “When I got the call, I was very surprised and pleased.

Earl Fowlkes, president and CEO of the International Federation of Black Pride, says Collins was chosen because of the positive way he uses his influence.

“He’s appointed scores of qualified LGBT Washingtonians to boards and commissions,” Fowlkes said in an e-mail. “Boards and Commissions are an important part of government that along with the mayor and City Council help to determine the quality of life for the District.”

Tribble, a lesbian, was in her hometown of Tuscaloosa, Ala., working on tornado relief when Fowlkes told her the news.

Tribble (Photo courtesy of the subject)

“I didn’t really process it right away because I was focused on meeting immediate needs down there, but once I did, I was ecstatic and humbled by it and I’m very much appreciative of people deciding that I was worthy of being recognized.”

Tribble’s work as director of operations at United Medical Care and her long commitment to HIV and AIDS work was vital to her selection, Fowlkes said.

“Her commitment to children, adolescents and adults living with HIV/AIDS makes her worthy of the Welmore Cook Award,” he wrote.

Collins, who’s gay, is a fifth-generation D.C. resident and lawyer who previously served as assistant secretary to D.C. Council and in the cabinet of former Mayor Anthony Williams. He has also been active in many local LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations and was instrumental in getting the D.C. AIDS Office open and funded.

Tribble, also, has been involved in many activist groups for LGBT, women and children’s causes both in her professional life and in a volunteer capacity.

Previous recipients of the Cook Award include Thomas Gleaton, Jeffrey Richardson, the late Wanda Alston and (posthumously) the late Charlotte Smallwood.