Next Saturday, May 10, high-profile celebs like Sharon Stone and Focus Features CEO, James Schamus, are set to receive important honors from the GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco.
GLAAD is the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. Their Media Awards are given to media whose representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are fair, accurate and inclusive. In our world, media reaches everyone, and by promoting fair representations GLAAD aims to eliminate widespread homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. The Media Awards ceremony will be held at the San Francisco Marriott, and a ticket includes cocktails and dinner. For more information please visit GLAAD’s website.
Other features of the evening will include Jennifer Beals presenting the Davidson/Valentini Award to Ilene Chaiken and Judith Light presenting the Pioneer Award to David Mixner. Mayor Gavin Newsom will present a Special Recognition Award to Theater Rhinoceros. Candis Cayne (Dirty Sexy Money) will host the event, and musician Dave Koz will perform. Special guests include: Alan Cumming; Jason Lewis; Rex Lee; Billy Baldwin; J.P. Calderon (The Janice Dickenson Modeling Agency); David Bromstad (Color Splash); GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano. More names will be announced.
GLAAD also presents awards in the following categories whose winners will be announced onstage at the San Francisco event: Outstanding TV Movie, Mini-Series or Anthology (Daphne, The DL Chronicles, The State Within), Outstanding Talk Show Episode (“Born in the Wrong Body” The Oprah Winfrey Show, “Gay Around the World” The Oprah Winfrey Show, “Gay Athletes & Rappers: It’s Not In to be Out” The Tyra Banks Show, “Growing Up Intersex” The Oprah Winfrey Show, “Transgender Kids” The Tyra Banks Show), Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage (The Advocate, CosmoGIRL!, Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, Us Weekly), and Outstanding Advertising – Electronic (“Change” Levis, “Goodbye” Orbitz, “Jewels” & “Time” Dolce & Gabbana, “Rejected” Chemistry.com, “Tu Pride – Jaime” MTV).
So far, other GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies held across the country have been all-out successes. The New York ceremony on March 17 took place at the Maririott Marquis with big names including Barbara Walters, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and Alan Cumming. The South Florida event rocked the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on April 12, and here at home in Los Angeles Janet Jackson received GLAAD’s Vanguard Award on April 26 at the Kodak Theatre.
For those who are interested but can’t make it down to the bay area this weekend, be sure to check out GLAAD’s website. More good news: the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards airs on Bravo on June 27 at 7 PM ET/PT.
