Media awards honour gay role models
Oscar-winning Dreamgirls star Jennifer Hudson and singer Patti LaBelle were the undisputed stars of the GLAAD awards on Monday.
Hudson presented the RB diva LaBelle with a special achievement award for championing gay and lesbian rights, and participating in the fight against AIDS.
This was the 18th annual Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) media awards ceremony.
GLAAD campaigns for fair and inclusive representation of LGBT people in the media as a way of eliminating homophobia.
Their media award shows are advertised as being “fair, accurate, inclusive, and impossibly glam.”
LaBelle praised Hudson throughout her acceptance speech.
Hudson was an American Idol finalist who won an Oscar last month for best supporting actress in the film Dreamgirls alongside Beyoncé Knowles.
LaBelle joked: “I didn’t know you were this nice, I thought you were a bitch.”
Hudson admitted that she “idolises” LaBelle, before the two launched into an acapella version of “Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen.”
The rendition caused a standing ovation in the audience.
The hit show Project Runway, which follows wannabe fashion designers won outstanding reality TV show.
The show has successfully transferred to British television. Project Catwalk aired in January on Sky One and was presented by Kelly Osbourne.
An award for achievement as gay role models was given to designer Tom Ford and comic Kate Clinton.
Clinton describes herself as a “fumerist,” a feminist humourist who strives to prove that being a lesbian is funny.
Independent film Quinceanera, the story of a pregnant teenager who is taken in by her gay cousin, was named best-limited release film.
The documentary award went to HBO’s popular programme about entertainer Rosie O’Donell’s chartered cruise for gay families, All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise.
O’Donnell acknowledged tennis legend Billie Jean King, the subject of another nominated documentary, in her acceptance speech.
She said: “If it hadn’t been for Billie Jean King, there wouldn’t have been a gay movement.”
The Oprah Winfrey Show was celebrated as outstanding talk show episode for “Wives confess they are gay.”
The news show Nightline, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and columnist Frank Rich were also honoured with awards.
Stars who presented awards included Oscar nominee Julianne Moore, Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon, singer Hilary Duff, director John Waters, and English basketball star John Amaechi.
Earlier this month Pinknews.co.uk reported how Amaechi had not only become the first openly gay National Basketball Association player, but was also the first gay star to sign a multi-million pound endorsement deal.
Additional awards will be announced next month in ceremonies in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
