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Judith Light To Be Honored At 2020 GLAAD Media Awards

Award-winning actress, producer, and activist Judith Light will be honored at the New York City GLAAD Media Awards with the Excellence in Media Award.

GLAAD’s Excellence in Media Award is presented to media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting acceptance of LGBTQ people. Previous Excellence in Media Award honorees include Ava DuVernay, Robert De Niro, Kelly Ripa, Patti LaBelle, Debra Messing, Tyra Banks, Julianne Moore, Glenn Close, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Billy Crystal, and Diane Sawyer.

GLAAD also announced that Lilly Singh, openly bisexual executive producer and host of NBC’s “A Little Late with Lilly Singh,” will serve as host of the Awards, which will take place at the Hilton Midtown in New York on Thursday, March 19.

The 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards honor media for fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues.

“Judith Light stood up for and with LGBTQ people when others in media and entertainment refused to speak up, and she has never left our side,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “When the GLAAD Media Awards first started and was a small event with little visibility, she was one of the few entertainers who would join us in calling for LGBTQ representation, so it is only fitting to now honor her advocacy on what has become the largest LGBTQ stage in the world.

“From standing alongside LGBTQ people during the AIDS crisis, to fighting for marriage equality, to now uplifting transgender people and issues, Judith advocates with a unique passion and an unending dedication that uplifts.”

The multiple Tony and Emmy award-winning actress is known for her extensive body of television, film, and stage work, for which she recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Currently, Light is starring opposite Bette Midler and Ben Platt in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series The Politician, which is nominated for a GLAAD Media Award.

On-screen, Light has portrayed many pivotal roles that have helped to advance LGBTQ acceptance and elevate LGBTQ stories and issues.

In 1989, Light starred as Ryan White’s mother in The Ryan White Story, a film based on the true-life story of teenager Ryan White who contracted HIV and was expelled from his middle school.

More recently, Light starred in Transparent, Amazon Prime’s Golden Globe-winning series, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination and multiple Emmy and Critics’ Choice nominations. During its run, Transparent earned three GLAAD Media Awards and helped to bring mainstream attention to issues related to the transgender community.

Light has also appeared in several other films and shows that have helped to elevate LGBTQ issues and people, including the 2007 film Save Me about the dangers of gay conversion therapy, and Ryan Murphy’s FX series The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, which received a GLAAD Media Award and garnered her an Emmy and Critics Choice nomination.

Light is also known for her variety of award-winning roles in the theater and won two consecutive Tony Awards. Light was honored with the 2019 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her extensive philanthropy work, especially in fighting to end AIDS and championing LGBTQ and human rights.

Throughout her career, Judith Light has been a fearless advocate for LGBTQ people and has helped to bring awareness to numerous LGBTQ issues and causes.

During the 1980s, Light was one of the few prominent celebrities who helped to bring draw attention to the AIDS epidemic and fight stigma towards LGBTQ people and people living with HIV/AIDS. During this time, Light worked with many different LGBTQ organizations to help accelerate acceptance for the LGBTQ community, including the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, GLAAD, NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, Project Angel Food, and Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Throughout the 1990s, Light continued to advocate for LGBTQ issues by participating in various events and campaigns, including the LGBT March in Washington in 1993, the California AIDS Ride in 1995, and the display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt with Elizabeth Taylor in 1996.

In 2002, Light also traveled to South Africa for the AIDS walk to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in the country and help drive greater research initiatives in the United States. Light has also served on the boards of the Matthew Shepard Foundation and the Point Foundation.

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Kelly Clarkson Claps Back At Anti-LGBT Trolls On Twitter

American Idol star Kelly Clarkson clapped back at an anti-gay troll who didn't care for her support for LGBTQs
Kelly Clarkson

Do not come for the gays on Kelly Clarkson’s Twitter account or you will be named and shamed.

On Sunday, the ever-and-always American Idol offered congrats to a couple of fans who had just tied the knot.

But one fan wasn’t down with Clarkson’s support for same-sex marriage, tweeting, “Sorry Kelly…. love your music but I don’t dig the dikes…still a sin any way you cut it.”

The Voice judge clapped back saying originally she wasn’t going to give the hate a spotlight, but decided the truth was more important.

Clarkson tweeted: “I almost didn’t respond 2 this because hate doesn’t deserve a spotlight but u know what, truth does, & the truth is that God is Love, & Love shared between two people should be praised not condemned in my personal opinion. I love u 2 although we see the world/love differently.”

BOOM!

#WeLoveYouKellyClarkson

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Years After Defending His Two Moms, Zach Wahls Wins Nomination For State Senate

Zach Wahls

It was just days after I launched The Randy Report that 19-year-old Zach Wahls of Iowa stood up in front of state lawmakers to introduce his two mothers as he argued for marriage equality in his state.

It was one of the most moving speeches I’d ever seen.

“I’m not really so different from any of your children. My family really isn’t so different from yours. After all, your family doesn’t derive its sense of worth from being told by the state, ‘You’re married—congratulations!’ No, the sense of family comes from the commitment we make to each other, to work through the hard times so we can enjoy the good ones; it comes from the love that binds us. That’s what makes a family.”

Speaking to legislators about the importance of marriage equality to his family, Zach was beyond poised and focused. Here’s the speech:

The Advocate called it “the most popular political video of 2011.”

In 2012, the handsome 20-year-old Wahls released his book, My Two Moms: Lessons of Love, Strength, and What Makes a Family.

Last night, now-26-year-old Zach won his primary in Iowa as he runs to become a state senator in Iowa’s District 37. The woofy Wahls garnered 60% of the vote in his race.

Wahls moves on to the November election to fill the seat vacated by Democratic Sen. Bob Dvorsky, who announced his retirement after more than 30 years in the Iowa legislature.

If Wahls wins the seat, he will be one of the youngest people to ever serve in the state Senate.

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Janet Jackson: LGBTs Are An All-Embracing Community That Has Always Inspired Me

janet.jpg
(image via Instagram)

Speaking to Billboard, Janet Jackson shares how the LGBTQ community has inspired her work:

It’s a loving, all-embracing community that has always inspired me.

I don’t often listen to my own work, but when I go back to [1997’s] Velvet Rope, I put on “Together Again” and remember the friends I lost to AIDS.

It was important to me to honor them not mournfully but joyously in a celebratory song. Their spirit did so much to bolster mine.

Sometimes when people talk about Velvet Rope, they call it my edgiest or sexiest record. Yet the heart of the record is not about sex at all. It’s about how, in defiance of death, we will all be “together again.”

It’s an anthem to undying love.

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MSNBC’s Joy Reid Issues Apology Over “Hurtful” Old LGBT Blog Posts From Late 2000s


 MSNBC’s Joy Reid took time this morning on her show to address the ongoing debacle of whether she did or did not write homophobic/transphobic comments on her now-defunct blog during the mid-to-late 2000s.

The old posts were brought to light in December and at the time, Reid apologized for the content.

But then new posts were found by a social media adversary, and Reid told the press she didn’t remember writing these new findings.

She hired a cybersecurity expert to explore if a hacker had modified and added content. But the expert hasn’t been able to prove that theory.

So today Reid offered a flat-out unqualified apology.

“I’ve not been exempt from being dumb or cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for. I own that. I get it. And for that I am truly, truly sorry.”

“I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things … But I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted and have written in the past, why some people don’t believe me.”

Reid brings up the fact that the country is in a different place than it was ten or twelve years ago. And it’s true.

People and attitudes do change. I’ve seen that from my perch here at The Randy Report.

In owning the transphobic and homophobic comments – comments I’ve heard many in the gay lesbian community make as well – she seems to come with a true apology.

I believe her, I accept her apology.

She is not our enemy. We have much bigger issues to address today.

Thank you, Joy Reid. Apology accepted.

Forward.

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Journalist Ronan Farrow Comes Out As “Part Of The LGBT Community”

Ronan Farrow at 2018 Point Foundation Gala
Photo credit: Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Journalist Ronan Farrow came out as “part of the LGBT community” last night in New York City as he was presented with the Point Courage Award by MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts, himself a past Point honoree.

The Point Courage Award recognizes those who have advocated for the future of the LGBTQ and allied community and believe investing in today’s potential will produce a brighter tomorrow.

In his acceptance speech, Farrow said, in part:

“Being a part of the LGBT community – which recognized that reporting I was doing early on and elevated it, and has been such a stalwart source of support through the sexual assault reporting I did involving survivors who felt equally invisible – that has been an incredible source of strength for me.

“LGBT people are some of the bravest and most potent change agents and leaders I have encountered, and the most forceful defenders of the vulnerable and voiceless, because they know what it’s like to be there.”

Farrow’s sexuality has been the source of quiet gossip since 2013. The 30-year-old didn’t specify if he identifies as gay or bisexual.

Farrow has earned kudos for his in-depth reporting on the allegations of sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein and the emerging #MeToo movement.

Tony Award-winner Laura Benanti was honored as well with the Point Impact Award, which recognizes those who make a significant impact on improving the LGBT and allied community.

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Wrestling Superstar Finn Bálor Makes His Wrestlemania Debut With Huge Show Of LGBTQ Support

Irish WWE wrestler Finn Bálor made a huge rainbow splash this weekend as he competed in his very first Wrestlemania in New Orleans.

Bálor entered the Mercedes-Benz SuperDome stadium surrounded by members of the New Orleans LBGQT community spreading a huge message of inclusion. His entourage was decked out in “For Everyone” t-shirts with a rainbow design.

Profits from Bálor’s entrance t-shirt – black with a rainbow design – will be donated to LGBT advocacy group GLAAD, whose motto is “To promote understanding, increase acceptance, and advance equality.”

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Cher Thrills 300K+ Crowd At Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras

(Photo: YouTuber Frank Patti)

Thrilling her fans ‘down under,’ Cher dazzled the packed crowd of over 300,000 at Sydney’s Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras last night delivering a 20 minute set that included hits like “All or Nothing,” “Strong Enough,” “Believe,” and “If I Could Turn Back Time.”

The international icon also made a surprise appearance earlier in the evening during the parade.

From The Guardian:

The singer, sporting bright orange hair and a low-cut black top with a silver-embroidered jacket, mingled with her many fans.

She said she loved the feeling of the parade and even chimed in about Australia’s passing of same-sex marriage laws.

“It’s about time,” Cher told reporters.

The American singer praised the Mardi Gras and said she wished she had attended one earlier.

“I love that everybody is having such a good time and there’s no feeling of any kind of anger, there’s no negativity and that’s what I like most,” Cher said.

“All the people with everything hanging out, and fabulous girls with their slap on and big hair and no clothes – I love it.”

Check out Cher’s after-party performance below.

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Burberry To Include New “Rainbow Check” In Honor Of LGBTQ Youth Organizations

Iconic fashion house Burberry shared on Instagram yesterday:

“Today we reveal #TheRainbowcheck and announce that #Burberry is supporting three LGBTQ+ charities, @AlbertKennedyTrust, @ILGAWorld and @TrevorProject, dedicated to broadening support for this community around the world. The rainbow, a symbol of inclusiveness and joy, is celebrated throughout the February 2018 collection.”

Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey added:

“My final collection here at Burberry is dedicated to and in support of – some of the best and brightest organisations supporting LGBTQ+ youth around the world. There has never been a more important time to say that in our diversity lies our strength and our creativity.”

The autumn/winter 2018 collection will use the colors of the LGBTQ+ rainbow in the new rainbow pattern shown above. The collection will be presented on February 17 at London Fashion Week.

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Britney Spears To Be Honored With Vanguard Award At Los Angeles GLAAD Media Awards

Britney Spears

GLAAD announced today that pop superstar Britney Spears will be honored with this year’s Vanguard Award at the 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles on April 12.

Via press release:

GLAAD’s Vanguard Award is presented to media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equality and acceptance of LGBTQ people. Previous honorees include Jennifer Lopez, Cher, Kerry Washington, Elizabeth Taylor, Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Barrymore, Janet Jackson, Demi Lovato, and Patricia Arquette.

Britney Spears is a multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning pop icon, and one of the most successful and celebrated entertainers in pop history with more than 100 million records sold worldwide. Spears is a longtime ally and supporter of the LGBTQ community. She has reliably stood up for LGBTQ youth on GLAAD’s Spirit Day by going purple on social media to speak out against bullying. In 2017, Spears was among 140 entertainers including Jennifer Lawrence, Ariana Grande, and Laverne Cox to speak out in an open letter against two anti-LGBTQ bills which targeted transgender youth in Texas and were later defeated.

Spears has a legacy of embracing her LGBTQ fans. Most recently, Spears penned a heartwarming love letter to the LGBTQ community with Billboard Pride in which she shared that the community’s unwavering loyalty and acceptance both uplift and inspire her. “I have a secret to share with you,” Spears wrote. “You see it’s actually you that lifts me up. The unwavering loyalty. The lack of judgment. The unapologetic truth. Acceptance! Your stories are what inspire me, bring me joy, and make me and my sons strive to be better people.”

For information on how you can attend this year’s GLAAD Media Awards, visit glaad.org/mediaawards.