Highly Favored: Los Angeles LGBT Center's Black History Month Celebration Returns

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles LGBT Center will commemorate Black History Month with the return of Highly Favored, as a two-part cultural program honoring Black queer nightlife in Los Angeles, inspired by the legacy of Jewel's Catch One.

The program culminates with a joyous dance party on Saturday, Feb. 21, at The Village at Ed Gould Plaza on the Anita May Rosenstein Campus in Hollywood.

"Black queer nightlife in Los Angeles has always been more than entertainment-it has been a space of survival, creativity, and a cradle of resistance for our community," said Giovanna Fisher, Chief Equity Officer of the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

"This year, Highly Favored honors that lineage, from the legendary dance floor of Jewel's Catch One-founded by the late Jewel Thais-Williams, whose vision forever shaped Black queer culture in L.A.-to the artists and creatives of today who continue to build community through joy and art."

The program begins on Friday, Feb. 13, with a gallery opening at the Advocate & Gochis Galleries featuring artist and photographer Nikko LaMere, founder of the creative studio In The Night.

LaMere will debut a special installation exploring Black queer identity and joy through the visual language of nightlife, grounding the broader program in cultural memory and lived experience.

On Saturday, Feb. 21, the experience moves outdoors to the Village courtyard, where Black queer DJs will soundtrack the evening with high-energy sets.

The night invites guests to take to the dance floor, uplift one another, and inhabit Black queer nightlife as an act of both celebration and resistance.

The ABC7 Street Team will be at the event with our photo booth to capture your memories. Attendees will also have an opportunity to go home with cool ABC7 swag.

In 2025, the Center presented Highly Loved, a one-time evolution of the event focused on collective care for L.A.'s Black queer community following wildfire devastation earlier that year, while intentionally centering collective and self-care for a community significantly impacted.

The 2026 program marks a return to nightlife as a site of cultural expression, remembrance, and momentum to move forward.

More information about Highly Favored, including event details, click here.