Awards Watch: GLAAD Tidings 2009

GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), the nation’s GLBT media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, has announced the nominees for its 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards.

As expected, A Single Man and Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire led the nominees for Outstanding Film - Wide Release, where they are joined by Everybody's Fine, I Love You, Man and Taking Woodstock. Meanwhile, Casi Divas, The Country Teacher, Little Ashes, Phoebe in Wonderland and The Secrets fill out the Limited Release category

Nominations for television include three-time winner Brothers & Sisters in the drama race and freshman series Glee and Modern Family in comedy, plus One Life to Live for daily drama.  Pedro and Prayers for Bobby are among the TV movie nominees.  Plus, Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon will be honored with the Vito Russo Award, presented to "an openly GLBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for our community".

See the comments section below for a quick look at all the English-language nominees.  The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in New York on March 13, in Los Angeles on April 17 and in San Francisco on June 5.

UPDATE:  Video salute to the 2009 film and TV nominees.

Awards Watch: GLAAD Media Awards San Francisco

The final round of GLAAD Media Awards was held in San Francisco over the weekend, and the focus was on television. Logo took home two major awards, for the TV movie East Side Story and the reality series Transamerican Love Story. The latter category actually ended in a tie, with the other winner being VH1's I Want to Work for Diddy, featuring transgender contestant Laverne Cox.

Other winners included a Special Recognition honor for Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, and the Davidson/Valentini Award was presented to actor/producer Chad Allen by his Save Me co-star Robert Gant.

Awards Watch: GLAAD Media Awards Los Angeles

GLAAD (the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) continued their cross-country celebration last night with the Los Angeles presentation of their GLAAD Media Awards. Not surprisingly, Milk won the top prize of the night, for Outstanding Film – Wide Release.

In the television categories, Desperate Housewives stopped Ugly Betty from a three-peat win, earning its first Media Award in the Outstanding Comedy Series category (perhaps turning Betty's transgender character into an attempted murderess wasn't such a good idea after all). Meanwhile, Brothers & Sisters picked up its third Outstanding Drama Series trophy in a row, and The New Adventures of Old Christine was honored for Outstanding Individual Episode for its gay marriage storyline.


Other honorees included gay fave Kathy Griffin, gay icon Reverend V. Gene Robinson and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, for its episode on the wedding of Ellen and Portia. Special Recognition awards were also given to The L Word and Prop 8: The Musical.

The final GLAAD Media Awards ceremony of the year will be held in San Francisco on May 9.

Awards Watch: GLAAD Media Awards New York

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation handed out their first batch of GLAAD Media Awards last night in New York. Among the winners were the films A Jihad for Love for Outstanding Documentary and Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom and Shelter, which tied for Outstanding Film – Limited Release. Tarell Alvin McCraney's Wig Out! and Joey Arias and Basil Twist's Arias with a Twist won in the New York theater categories.

Other winners included TV hosts Tyra Banks, Phil Donahue and Suze Orman, journalist Keith Olbermann and singer k.d. lang, as well as the soap opera As the World Turns, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book and the special radio broadcast The Laramie Project, 10 Years Later - The Lasting Legacy of Matthew Shepard.

Additional awards will be presented in Los Angeles on April 18 and in San Francisco on May 9.

Awards Watch: GLAAD Tidings 2008

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) announced the nominees for their 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards today.

The film nominations are led by the Academy Award nominated Milk, obviously the front-runner to win here (and a far cry from last year, when they had to give it to a gay pirate). Brideshead Revisited, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, RocknRolla and Vicky Cristina Barcelona round out the "Wide Release" nominees, while the indie faves The Edge of Heaven, Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom, Save Me, Shelter and XXY are competing in the "Limited Release" category. Documentaries in the running include Chris & Don: A Love Story, A Jihad for Love, Saving Marriage, the WE tv series Sex Change Hospital and last year's Oscar winning short Freeheld.

On the television front, Brothers & Sisters and Ugly Betty are looking for their third straight win in a row in the drama and comedy series races, respectively. Meanwhile, both Donald Strachey Mysteries, On the Other Hand, Death and Ice Blues, are up for made-for-TV movie. Legit theater nominees include Broadway's Billy Elliot and Los Angeles' The Little Dog Laughed.

The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in New York on March 28, in Los Angeles on April 18 and in San Francisco on May 9. See the comments section below for a quick look at all the movie, TV and theater nominees.

UPDATE: Visit our sister site, The QuOD - The Queer Online Database, for a full list of all the GLBT nominees. PLUS: Here's a video look at the major nominees.

Awards Watch: GLAAD NY

The feature film winners of the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards were presented last night in New York, the first of four ceremonies across the country honoring various media for their "fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their lives".

Eytan Fox's The Bubble was named Outstanding Film - Limited Release, while the fantasy Stardust (starring Robert De Niro as a gay pirate) received similar honors as Outstanding Film - Wide Release (I know, it's a long way from Brokeback Mountain). For the Bible Tells Me So, the acclaimed non-fiction film about homosexuality and religion (featuring Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Episcopalian bishop) won as Outstanding Documentary.

GLAAD also recently announced the awards program will be broadcast on Bravo (the unofficial gay network) later this year, the first time it will air on a fully distributed national cable channel (it previously was broadcast on LOGO, the official gay network). Additional awards will be presented in South Florida on April 12, Los Angeles on April 26 and in San Francisco on May 10.

For pix of all the celebs in attendance, visit AfterElton.com, winner for Outstanding Digital Journalism.

LA Times' O'Neil: Child Rape = Gay

It is usually easy to dismiss the often obsessively overenthusiastic Tom O'Neil, the Los Angeles Times resident entertainment award guru, he of the "tail that wags the dog" school of such coverage (i.e.: more concerned about a film's awards chances then the actual, you know, quality of said films). But a recent outrageous blunder of his cannot -- and should not -- be ignored.

While perusing the recent nominees for the GLAAD Media Awards, O'Neil scoffs at the "not gay enough" contenders and wonders why The Kite Runner, a film deemed homophobic by the queer press, was "snubbed":

"One great film with a gay subtext got overlooked by other awards this derby season and deserved to be noted here, but wasn't: The Kite Runner, which contains a controversial boy-rape scene. Why did GLAAD wimp out?"

Seems that in O'Neil's eyes, lesbian cheerleaders and cross-dressing pirates are nothing compared to child rapists. In the comments of his article, be sure to leave a virtual quarter so that Tom can buy a clue.

UPDATE: AfterElton.com tries to get the bottom of O'Neil's comments; in his replies, O'Neil repeatedly uses the offensive term "gay rape" ... and then throws a hissy fit in the comments section of his original post.

Awards Watch: GLAAD Tidings 2007

Honoring the "fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives", the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation announced the nominations for their 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards tonight at the Sundance Film Festival.

Three movies are up for the Film - Wide Release award: Across the Universe, The Jane Austen Book Club and Stardust (thankfully, the GLAAD sanctioned I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry was left off the ballot). Festival favorites The Bubble and Itty Bitty Titty Committee are among the nominees for Film - Limited Release, while For the Bible Tells Me So and Small Town Gay Bar lead the documentary field. Last year's television winners, Brothers and Sisters and Ugly Betty, are back for another chance to win as well. Additionally, actor Wilson Cruz, singer Rufus Wainwright and the late photographer Herb Ritts will be among those honored with special awards.

The awards, which also include categories in print and digital journalism and Spanish language media, will be handed out in four different ceremonies in four different cities on four different dates (GLAAD sure knows how to party). For a quick look at the film, TV and stage nominees, see the comments section below.

UPDATE: Here's a video montage of the major nominees.

Best of the Fests: Sundance Begins

The 2008 Sundance Film Festival began today in chilly Park City, Utah.

Returning this year is GLAAD's Queer Lounge, a "hub for queer and queer-friendly filmmakers, professionals and audiences to connect and network".

In other words, if you stop by you may find yourself rubbing elbows with the likes of directors Tom Kalin (Savage Grace, starring Julianne Moore), Craig Lucas (Birds in America, starring Matthew Perry and Ben Foster) and Isaac Julien (Derek, a documentary about queer cinema legend Derek Jarman).

Wizard Pride

Regardless of the timing, author J.K. Rowling's controversial outing of her Harry Potter wizard Albus Dumbledore has at least given us another pop culture character to call are own. Now, instead of all those Tinky Winky backpacks, we can stock up on such wizard wear as these "official Dumbledore pride" T-shirts.

Now, I'm not exactly sure how "official" they can be without a license from the big Jo Ro, but the site does state that a portion of the proceeds will be donated to GLAAD, so maybe she'll look the other way and, you know, count all the money she already has. In any event, supposedly over 7,000 of the two designs have already been sold, so expect them to be all the rage at the next Gay Pride festival nearest you.

In related news, Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo Del Toro reportedly is dying to direct the last Potter movie, The Deadly Hallows. I wonder if Warners would have the balls to let him do it.

Links via DumbledorePride.com, GLAAD.org and MoviesBlog.MTV.com.

The Latest on TV: Joan of Axe

Notable movies and other programs on TV for Monday October 8 to Sunday October 14:

Our patron saint Joan headlines this week's spooky offerings on Turner Classic Movies with her horrific hoot Straight-Jacket, part of a salute to terrormeister William Castle on Friday. The Tingler will also be shown, but you'll have to provide your own vibrating seats.

Also on TCM, two legends get the spotlight: Henry Fonda is the "Star of the Month", and two of his best westerns, The Ox-Bow Incident and Once Upon a Time in the West, will be aired on Thursday. Humphrey Bogart gets a mini-salute to his films of the 50's on Saturday, including the still-not-on-DVD The African Queen and Ben Mankiewicz's pick for the week, The Desperate Hours.

Other movies this week not on DVD include Ginger Rogers in Tom, Dick and Harry, Shirley Temple in That Hagen Girl and Frank Sinatra in The Tender Trap (all on TCM, Monday), Mario Lanza in The Great Caruso (TCM, Tuesday), James Dunn and Peggy Ann Garner in their Oscar-winning performances in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Fox Movie Channel, Tuesday), the Oscar-winning Best Pictures Cavalcade and Sunrise (FMC, Friday), Jennifer Jones in Tender is the Night (FMC, Sunday) and Loretta Young's Oscar-winning performance in The Farmer's Daughter (TCM, Sunday).

Why should you watch South Sydney Story (Versus, Wednesday)? Two reasons: Russell Crowe and a bunch of Australian rugby players.

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark is back, but it looks like she needs a little help, thus The Search for the Next Elvira begins Saturday on Fox Reality.

Also on Saturday, MTV brings you Legally Blonde - The Musical, direct from Broadway. The three-hour event will include the entire show, plus behind the scenes peeks. And if you want a sneak peek of the show itself, click here.

Heather Matarazzo moves from The L Word to Exes and Ohs, a new series on LOGO premiering Monday. The Rock Hudson Story will air Tuesday, and since Thursday is National Coming Out Day, the channel will run a Coming Out Stories marathon all day. And take a look at The Best of the GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday.

AMC's Movies That Shook the World takes on Fatal Attraction Sunday, while over on E!, True Hollywood Story investigates the women of Sex and the City Friday.

Click on the network links to find the show times in your area. All programming is subject to change.

Links via TCM.com, Wikipedia.org, FoxMovieChannel.com, Versus.com, OhLaLaParis.com, FoxReality.com, MTV.com, LOGOOnline.com, HRC.org, AMCTV.com and EOnline.com.