STAGE TUBE: 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards Nominees Announced

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy and anti-defamation organization, announced today the nominees for its 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards. By recognizing and honoring media for outstanding images of the LGBT community, the GLAAD Media Awards serve as a benchmark for the media industry and complement GLAAD's work to bring LGBT images and stories to Americans. Among the nominees: Tom Ford's Golden Globe®-nominated film A Single Man, Lee Daniel's Golden Globe®-nominated film Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire, Ang Lee's latest film Taking Woodstock, Little Ashes, starring Robert Pattinson, AMC's acclaimed drama Mad Men, Fox's hit show Glee, ABC's new hit comedy Modern Family, Be Like Others, a documentary about transgender people in Iran, Logo's reality show RuPaul's Drag Race, the daytime drama One Life to Live, HLN's new talk show The Joy Behar Show, The Early Show's interview with Chaz Bono, bisexual singer Lady Gaga, gay singer Adam Lambert and Spanish-language nominees Sábado Gigante, Primer Impacto, Al Rojo Vivo and People en Español.

"Words and images matter," said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios. "With these awards, we seek to recognize news coverage and entertainment programming that go beyond stock stereotypes with LGBT storylines that more fully reflect the challenges gay and transgender people face and the aspirations we hold for ourselves and our families. The GLAAD Media Awards honor media professionals who are doing an exceptional job at bringing our stories into the living rooms of America - and set a 'fairness benchmark' for the news and entertainment industries. The awards also complement and fund GLAAD's other programmatic work to share the stories of allies, religious leaders, gay and transgender people of color, local couples and families with Americans."

Barrios continued, "News and entertainment media that present richer, more diverse representations help Americans understand and embrace their gay and transgender family members, friends and neighbors in a more meaningful way. While there is still progress to be made, we are proud to recognize all of this year's GLAAD Media Awards nominees."

GLAAD also announced that Cynthia Nixon will be honored with the Vito Russo Award at the New York ceremony. The Vito Russo Award is named after a founding member of GLAAD and is presented to an openly LGBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for our community. More information about the honor is included below. Additional Special Honorees for New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco will be announced at a later date.

"Cynthia Nixon has been a vocal and visible advocate who has transformed cultural attitudes about our community," Barrios said. "She is a perfect example of how sharing your personal story and speaking out for marriage equality can inspire change among fair-minded Americans. It is our privilege to honor her."

GLAAD also announced that the Broadway cast of Hair would receive Special Recognition for their commitment to raising visibility for marriage equality. Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming will host the ceremony in New York, and the San Francisco event will be hosted by Emmy Award-winning comedian and writer Bruce Vilanch.

The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in New York on March 13, 2010 at the Marriott Marquis; in Los Angeles on April 17 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza; and in San Francisco on June 5 at The Westin St. Francis.

The 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards will be the official launch of GLAAD's new visual identity, created by Lippincott. The new brand identity fully represents the evolving GLAAD mission and symbolizes the work GLAAD does to amplify the stories of LGBT people, transforming cultural attitudes and demonstrating why it is that words and images matter.

GLAAD announced 116 nominees in 24 English-language categories, and 36 Spanish-language nominees in 8 categories. In the competitive categories, cable networks earned 23 nominations, while broadcast networks garnered 17 nominations.

A complete list of GLAAD Media Awards nominees and descriptions of the New York Special Honoree award follows. Additional facts and figures about this year's 152 nominees are available at: www.glaad.org/mediaawards/21/press.

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives.

The 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards nominees were published, released or broadcast between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009. Nearly 1,000 media projects were considered by over 85 volunteers serving on seven nominating juries. Each year, the GLAAD Media Awards in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco bring together more than 5,000 supporters to raise nearly $3.5 million for the organization's work.

More than 100 corporate partners are showing their support, including Los Angeles Presenting corporate partner ABSOLUT® Vodka and San Francisco Presenting corporate partner Southwest Airlines. GLAAD is also grateful to the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards Platinum Underwriter corporate partners: Anheuser-Busch, Inc. and University of Phoenix, as well as Underwriter corporate partners: Allstate Insurance Company, American Airlines, Comcast, Delta Air Lines, Harrah's Foundation, Herb Ritts Foundation, MillerCoors, New York City Marriott & Renaissance Hotels, The Palette Fund, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, and Time Warner. For a full list of corporate partners and information on how to become a corporate partner, or to become a table host, purchase tickets or place a tribute in the tribute book, please visit http://www.glaad.org/mediaawards or call (877) 519-7904.

About GLAAD
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.