FRANK OCEAN, ADAM LAMBERT & CLOUD ATLAS AMONG GLAAD AWARD NOMINEES

GLAAD, the American LGBT media advocacy and anti-defamation organisation, announced the nominees for its 24th annual media awards on Wednesday.
 
The GLAAD Media Awards aims to recognise and honour media for their “fair, accurate and inclusive” representations of the LGBT community.

The Academy Award nominated film ParaNorman, featuring a gay main character, became the first-ever family-rated animated film to receive a nomination from GLAAD.

Other feature films that received a nod include mainstream offerings Cloud Atlas; The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; and The Perks of Being a Wallflower, as well as the lesser known Any Day Now; Keep the Lights On; Mosquita y Mari; Musical Chairs; North Sea Texas; and Your Sister’s Sister. 

How to Survive a Plague, about the activist movement spawned by the HIV/Aids epidemic; Vito, the biography of gay cinema writer and activist, Vito Russo; and Wish Me Away, profiling lesbian country singer Chely Wright, are among the nominees for best documentary.

Television shows nominated for their LGBT storylines or characters include new hits The New Normal and Smash as well as favourites such as Glee; Modern Family; True Blood; Grey’s Anatomy; American Horror Story: Asylum; and The Amazing Race.

Oprah’s hour-long visit with openly-gay actor Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka are also among the nominees, as is Anderson Cooper’s show 360 on CNN.

Nominated LGBT musical artists feature the recently out Frank Ocean, for his album Channel Orange, as well as Adam Lambert (Trespassing), Gossip (A Joyful Noise), Rufus Wainwright (Out of the Game) and Scissor Sisters (Magic Hour)

“Images and stories from the LGBT community continue to push support for equality to historic levels,” commented GLAAD President Herndon Graddick.

“This year’s nominees enlighten and entertain, but also reflect a new American landscape where a growing majority accept and value their LGBT family, colleagues and friends.  Now more than ever, viewers not only accept gay and transgender characters and plot lines, they expect them — just as they both accept and expect LGBT people to be a valuable part of their everyday lives,” said Graddick.

The three GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in New York on March 16; in Los Angeles on April 20 and in San Francisco on May 11. Special Honourees for each city will be announced in the coming weeks.