Kate and I are traveling to DC tomorrow to cover SLDN’s 15th annual national dinner at National Building Museum this Saturday, live-blogging all the events as The L Word will be honored for its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” storyline.

The character Tasha is in the National Guard and is faced with the threat of being expelled because of a homophobic colleague ready to out her, and a commander who has put her on notice that her “lifestyle” (her relationship with Alice) is putting her career in jeopardy.

Cast members Marlee Matlin, Pam Grier, and Cybill Shepherd will be there, along with series creator Ilene Chaiken, to receive the award. If all goes well, my interviews with Pam Grier and Marlee Matlin will be up during the live blog for you too.

Decorated former Sergeant and Arabic language specialist Bleu Copas will be at the dinner as well; he was discharged under DADT after an anonymous series of emails outed him.

We’ll have commentary, audio, photos and video of the festivities going up during the evening, as we did last year.

Steve Ralls of SLDN is torturing folks — he announced that there will be a “surprise, special guest you WILL NOT WANT TO MISS.” (and dammit, he won’t tell me who it is! ).

More, including a quote from Cybill Shepherd on DADT, after the flip.With all the controversy in the air over General Peter Pace’s recent comments over homosexuality, immorality and DADT, there’s a lot of buzz about this event, particularly because Congress may take up the issue of repeal this session.

The Frontlines, SLDN’s blog, has more about the dinner here and here.  If you’re in the area, tickets for the dinner are still available online.

On Monday, March 26, SLDN is holding its annual Lobby Day on Capitol Hill. People can sign up to participate as the organization plans to visit every Congressional office in a single day and to urge for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

On Sunday after the dinner, SLDN and MIA Promotions will put on “HOT PINK, Red, White & Blue” a party, open to the all members of the LGBT community and will feature 3 open floors for dancing, and feature the airing of The L Word season finale episode. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to support SLDN.

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Don’t miss MetroWeekly‘s coverage of SLDN’s big night. There’s an interview with Cybill Shepherd who says this about attending the SLDN dinner and DADT:

“It’s a cause that is close to my heart. I have this enormous respect for people with the courage to go where other people haven’t gone and set the example of defying ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ and other types of discrimination. It’s so archaic that discrimination is still in the military through the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy. I think it’s the only place where you are allowed to discriminate against someone. You can’t keep people out of the military because of the color of their skin or their religion, but you can based on sexual orientation. It’s hard to believe that in this day and age we still have this kind of discrimination and we’re depriving ourselves at a time when we desperately need these great, good people who have the expertise and are willing to serve their country. And the cost to the government of replacing these people! I read somewhere it’s millions and millions and millions of dollars to replace excellent people doing their job with courage. It’s an absurdity. Let’s shoot ourselves in the foot a few more times.”