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GLAAD Media Awards brings out the stars—and the hope
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Chatfest darling Chelsea Handler played hostess at the 20th Annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Awards ceremony Saturday evening in The City, where San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, finance queen Suze Orman, and actors Jason Lewis, Robert Gant, Wilson Cruz, and others gathered to honor the best in television and journalism. (See video of the night below.)
Chad Allen, Dustin Lance Black, and filmmakers Geoff Callan and Mike Shaw, were also in attendance, along with a slew of other noteworthy souls, most hypnotic being Matt Alber's singing and performance on piano, as well as Nadja Salerno Sonnenberg and the New Century Chamber Orchestra's knockout appearance.
It was the third and final GLAAD Awards event this season—previous awards were handed out in New York and Los Angeles last month—and it was met with enthusiasm, delivering the very thing everybody seemed to hoping for: recognition and inspiration.
Something like that may come easy for GLAAD. The revered anti-defamation organization continues to impress by how it honors media for its fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community "and the issues that affect their lives." More interesting perhaps is how GLAAD has become more than just a media watchdog. Now considered an all-out advocacy group, it often works with other organizations on a grassroots level to deliver a better understanding of LGBT stories and issues.
All that came into play Saturday night early on. Presenter Suze Orman took the stage and was met with a standing ovation—nabbing a spot on Time's 100 Most Influential People for the second year in a row didn't hurt. Later, she spoke of the hope she sees with the Obama Administration. Also noteworthy was the soul-stirring speech Oscar-winner Dustin Lance Black delivered, commenting, specifically, on a recent trip back to his former high school in Salinas, and the courage of one youth that that came out in front of his peers during Black's visit.
But distributing awards was the main focus of the night. Actor Robert Gant delivered a passionate speech before presenting the esteemed Davidson/Valentini Award to Chad Allen. As Allen accepted the award, he praised GLAAD's significant efforts and the milestones the organization has reached. Other awards included:
Special Recognition: Dustin Lance Black (Milk), and Geoff Callan and Mike Shaw (Pursuit of Equality)
Outstanding Television Movie: East Side Story (Logo)
Outstanding Reality Program: TIE: I Want to Work for Diddy (VH1) and Transamerican Love Story (Logo)
Outstanding TV Journalism Newsmagazine: "Funding the Marriage War" In the Life (PBS)
Prior to the ceremony, GLAAD President Neil Giuliano noted the overall diversity of all the nominees in this year's crop. "I'm really happy that we know have more than just entertainers [on the nominee list]," he said. "It's more than just the people from the entertainment world, and they are certainly very significant and important, but it's also important for us to recognize those people from other walks of life whose visibility in the media is changing hearts and minds. I think the diversity is a real strength for the honorees this year."
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While Giuliano's term as president is coming to a close—he's set to write a memoir—he spoke of the tremendous strides GLAAD has been making recently, particularly several new transformations.
"Folks should not just call GLAAD the media watchdog because in terms of what we do for the LGBT community, that is a very small part of what GLAAD does any more," he says. "We are actually helping other LGBT organizations and individuals tell their stories in the media. And we are working with state-wide organizations."
He's referring to several grassroots programs GLAAD is involved in, most notably outreach to new gay married couples in Iowa that want to articulate why being able to marry in the state is important to them.
In addition, he says GLAAD is "working with the local media with in all of those smaller media markets in Iowa for fair and accurate coverage of all those weddings that will take place [in Iowa] ... because that’s the media moment in that state; that is critical to be accurate and fair.
"That’s an example of the very grassroots work that GLAAD does proactively, which doesn't fall under the monitor of watchdog," he adds. "That’s an old old brand for GLAAD that we have been trying to shake. The reality is that most people these days are pretty savvy and there's not as much blatant defamation that they're used to be because the culture has changed, and people don’t tolerate it any more. People don't expect the defamation the way the used to; its not acceptable anymore to make the gay community the blunt of jokes. Our work is much more proactive now as we work at that grassroots level."
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