Highlights Of The GLAAD Awards

Lady Gaga, Cybill Shepherd Highlight Gay Media Awards
BY ON TOP MAGAZINE STAFF
PUBLISHED: JUNE 06, 2010

Cybill Shepherd and Lee Daniels were honored for their gay advocacy Saturday night at the final installment of the 21st annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco.

Shepherd, who played lesbian for three season on Showtime’s groundbreaking drama The L Word, was given the Golden Gate Award, while openly gay Precious director Daniels took home the Davidson/Valentini Award.

Wilson Cruz and Jai Rodriguez joined the show’s host writer-comedian Bruce Vilanch on the stage.

Lady Gaga won in the Outstanding Music Artist category for her most recent album The Fame Monster.

Chely Wright – the 39-year-old country music star who recently came out lesbian – performed for the crowd. Also performing was Australian recording artist Sam Sparro, who announced he is gay on the cover of Australian gay glossy Attitude in 2008.

Ask Not, a documentary on the military’s ban on open service, won in the Outstanding Documentary category, while The Stonewall Riots: 40 Years Later, a film that chronicles the gay rights movement, took home the Outstanding Digital Journalism prize.

Robert Hanson, president of Levi Strauss Americas, was given the San Francisco Local Hero Award for championing marriage equality in the business community.

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize excellence in 41 categories including newspaper content, syndicated columnists and comic books. Awards were rolled out in a series of ceremonies. ABC took home the most awards in television during a New York ceremony in March. During the award’s second installment in Los Angeles, Director Tom Ford’s film about a gay man’s journey after the loss of his lover, A Single Man, won for outstanding film.