Movie awards season may have ended with last month’s Oscars but GLAAD Awards season is just beginning. Earlier this week the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation announced that Naya Rivera would cohost the awards in New York City. Now, GLAAD has announced, among other juicy tidbits, that Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice creator Shonda Rhimes will receive the Golden Gate Award while Glee star Dianna Agron will host the 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco on June 2, according to a release from GLAAD.
The Golden Gate Awardis “presented to media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community,” a feat Rhimes has certainly accomplished with Grey’s Anatomy. She has consistently drawn positive depictions of LGBT characters, not the least of which is the beloved couple of Callie and Arizona. Rhimes thoughtfully developed a storyline for series regular Callie (Sara Ramirez), who came out as bisexual, and later introduced lesbian character Arizona (Jessica Capshaw), who would become the love of Callie’s life.
In other GLAAD news lesbian teen activist Katy Butler, who petitioned for a rating change on the film Bully will be presented with the a Special Recognition Award by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Special guests for the New York GLAAD event include Dakota Fanning, Martha Plimpton, Kim Wayans (Pariah), Padma Lakshmi, Megan Hilton, Carson Kressley and Isis King, among others.
LA’s special guests include the cast of Hot in Cleveland, Ellen DeGeneres, Anna Paquin and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, to name a few.
Stay tuned for more GLAAD updates.
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