Twenty-seven years after becoming the youngest person ever to receive Black Tie Dinner’s Raymond Kuchling Humanitarian Award, Cece Cox is headed back to the stage for another honor.
Black Tie Dinner announced that Cox, longtime CEO of Dallas’ Resource Center, will receive its 2026 Visibility Award at the 45th Annual Black Tie Dinner on Saturday, Nov. 14 at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel.
The timing makes the honor especially meaningful. Cox, who has led Resource Center since 2010, plans to retire in early 2027 after more than four decades of LGBTQ+ advocacy.
“I have tried to bring a voice of representation of LGBTQIA+ lived experience to the places and organizations I have been involved with, and I will continue to do so until everyone feels safe to be visible,” Cox said.
Under Cox’s leadership, Resource Center has grown to serve more than 60,000 people annually. That tenure has included the opening of Oak Lawn Place, an 84-unit affordable housing community for people 55 and older, along with Resource Center Health. Her advocacy also helped secure nondiscrimination protections for Dallas public employees and students.
Basically, Cece has been doing the work in Dallas since before some of us knew what SPF was.
“Few people have embodied visibility as fully, or for as long, as Cece Cox,” said Black Tie Dinner Senior Co-Chair Deirdre Coleman.
Cox joins an already impressive 2026 Black Tie Dinner lineup. “Overcompensating” creator Benito Skinner will receive the Media Award, HELP Center for LGBTQ+ Health CEO DeeJay Johannessen will receive the Raymond Kuchling Humanitarian Award and Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson will also appear.
This year’s Black Tie Dinner theme is “Renaissance.” Tickets and table hosting opportunities remain available through Black Tie Dinner.
