The comedy show “Schitt’s Creek”, the late night presenter Lilly Singh, the drama series “Star Trek: Discovery” and the music artist Sam Smith were among the winners during the GLAAD Media awards ceremony.
On top of that, streaming giant Netflix came out on top with three victories: Ryan Murphy’s adaptation of ‘The Boys in the Band’ won the award for the outstanding film-limited release; ‘Disclosure’, about Hollywood’s portrayal of transgender people, won the outstanding documentary award; and ‘She-Ra & The Princesses of Power’ linked Hulu’s ‘First Day’ in the ‘Outstanding Kids & Family Programming’ category.
The LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD has held its annual gathering for more than three decades to honor honest, accurate and inclusive representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people in the media.
This year’s virtual event, hosted by actor Niecy Nash, aired on YouTube Thursday night. There were nearly 200 nominees in 28 categories, including outstanding music artist, outstanding video games, and outstanding drama series.
“Movies and TV shows are like empathy machines,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, said during the ceremony. “What people see and hear in the media has an impact on the decisions we make in schools, offices, lounges, courtrooms and at the ballot box. It’s not about embarrassing or canceling anyone. It’s about use a moment to educate and create responsibility. “
In addition to celebrating the winners, the ceremony highlighted important issues affecting the LGBTQ community, such as the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, HIV awareness and the epidemic of violence against transgender people of color.
Laverne Cox, executive producer of ‘Disclosure’, sent a message of hope to the trans community in her acceptance speech.
“We are looking for people to go beyond acceptance to radical acceptance, to radical self-love,” said Cox, best known for starring in “Orange Is the New Black.” “To the trans youths who are watching now, we want you to know that you are anointed, that in spite of all the attacks that can take place against you, you are divine. You deserve to be that. You are here with a “You must survive to achieve that divine purpose.”
Teen YouTube sensation JoJo Siwa, who made headlines this year after revealing she’s gay, sent a special message to LGBTQ teens before handing over the Sesame Street puppet Elmo with the award for an excellent program for children.
“It’s quite important that people my age can look at me and say, ‘Hey, I know someone who is LGBTQ, and she’s really very happy,'” Siwa, 17, said. “Especially LGBTQ kids who are not in safe or acceptable environments … I just feel very honored to have a platform to say to everyone, ‘Be who you are, love who you love and do it with pride . ‘
In its annual report “Where We Are on TV” this year, GLAAD found that the visibility of LGBTQ decreased by 33 percent on cable, 13 percent on streaming services and a little over 1 percent on network television in the current TV season . The organization attributed the decline to production stoppages due to the pandemic.
“We hope it’s just a blip and not the beginning of a trend,” Ellis said at the time, suggesting that the decline was largely due to fewer shows. “The content is more important than ever before, and it’s having a bigger impact than ever. We’m so glad the drop was not as great as it could have been. But if all things are equal, then even if the quantity of programs down, the performance should not be. ‘
Although the overall LGBTQ version was lower, the racial diversity of queer characters was higher: for the first time in the report’s history, there were more LGBTQ people of color than white LGBTQ characters on screen, with people of color making 53 percent of the regular and recurring LGBTQ characters in broadcast series, 52 percent on cable programs and 47 percent on streaming platforms.
Thursday’s GLAAD Media Awards include performances by Dan Levy, Katy Perry and Wilson Cruz, along with performances by Grammy-nominated rapper Chika, YouTube star Rebecca Black and singer-songwriter Jessica Betts (who starred last year with Niecy Nash married). The cast of ‘Glee’ also virtually reunited for a special tribute to the late actor Naya Rivera, who played lesbian cheerleader Santana Lopez in the Fox show.
The full list of GLAAD Media Award winners can be found on the organization’s website and the ceremony can be viewed on Hulu through June on request.
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