Trevor Noah, Kanarie and Rafiki among nominees for GLAAD media awards

Trevor Noah, South Africa’s Kanarie and Kenya’s Rafiki, along with movies like Judy and Rocketman, are among the diverse nominees for the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards. 

The awards, hosted by America’s GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organisation, honour media for fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues. 

There are a whopping 176 nominees in 30 categories which this year feature 10 nominees in the Outstanding Kids & Family Programming category as “a result of an increase in LGBTQ images across… kids and family television programming.”

The South African-born Noah has been nominated in the category of Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Episode for his interview with Jacob Tobia, a genderqueer LGBTQ rights activist, writer, producer, television host and actor. 

The award-winning gay-themed Afrikaans film Kanarie has been nominated for Outstanding Film – Limited Release, as has lesbian love story Rafiki from Kenya.

Kanarie (Canary) is a gay musical drama set in apartheid South Africa during the 1980s. It tells the story of an 18-year-old boy who is recruited into the Defence Force Choir. Rafiki, which remains banned in its home country of Kenya, is a coming of age tale about two Kenyan girls who fall in love and whose desire for each other flies in the face of African conventions.

The vast nominees’ list also features television shows such as Pose, Schitt’s Creek, The Politician, Euphoria and Watchmen and films including Downton Abbey, Judy and Rocketman, all of which highlight LGBTQ characters or storylines.

“There are more nominees for the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards than ever before not only because LGBTQ diversity and inclusion has progressed, but because GLAAD’s work to forward LGBTQ visibility has never been more important,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President & CEO. 

“Media stories and storylines that shed light on LGBTQ people of different backgrounds, genders, races, religions, and more, are needed to counter the current politically and culturally divisive moment,” added Ellis.

Netflix scored the most nominations with a total of 15 nominees. Apple TV+ and Disney+ received their first nominations for Dickinson and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, respectively.  

This year’s nominees include powerful and impactful stories about LGBTQ people of colour, including Euphoria, Killing Eve, The L Word: Generation Q, Pose, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Dear White People, One Day at a Time, Superstore, Vida, and Tales of the City.

For the first time since the 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, GLAAD will honour LGBTQ-inclusive content on Broadway to celebrate the increase of LGBTQ storytelling in theatre. The nominees for Outstanding Broadway Production include Choir Boy, The Inheritance, Jagged Little Pill, Slave Play, and What the Constitution Means to Me.

GLAAD also announced a Special Recognition Award for Special, a Netflix short-form coming-of-age comedy series by Ryan O’Connell about a gay man with cerebral palsy. 

The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held across two events: In New York at the Hilton Midtown on Thursday, March 19, 2020 and Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton on Thursday, April 16, 2020. 

Earlier, GLAAD announced that pop star Taylor Swift will receive the Vanguard Award and transgender activist, TV host and author Janet Mock will receive the Stephen F. Kolzak Award at the awards event in Los Angeles. 

31ST ANNUAL GLAAD MEDIA AWARDS NOMINEES

Outstanding Film – Wide Release

Bombshell (Lionsgate)

Booksmart (United Artists Releasing)

Downton Abbey (Focus Features)

Judy (Roadside Attractions)

Rocketman (Paramount Pictures)

Outstanding Film – Limited Release

Adam (Wolfe Releasing)

Brittany Runs a Marathon (Amazon Studios)

End of the Century (The Cinema Guild)

The Heiresses (1844 Entertainment)

Kanarie (Breaking Glass Pictures)

Pain & Glory (Sony Pictures Classics)

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (NEON)

Rafiki (Film Movement)

Socrates (Breaking Glass Pictures)

This Is Not Berlin (Samuel Goldwyn Films)

Outstanding Documentary

5B (RYOT Films)

Gay Chorus Deep South (MTV)

Leitis in Waiting (PBS)

State of Pride (YouTube)

Wig (HBO)

Outstanding Drama Series

Batwoman (The CW)

Billions (Showtime)

Euphoria (HBO)

Killing Eve (BBC America)

The L Word: Generation Q (Showtime)

The Politician (Netflix)

Pose (FX)

Shadowhunters (Freeform)

Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access)

Supergirl (The CW)

Outstanding Comedy Series

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC)

Dear White People (Netflix)

Dickinson (Apple TV+)

One Day at a Time (Netflix)

The Other Two (Comedy Central)

Schitt’s Creek (Pop)

Sex Education (Netflix)

Superstore (NBC)

Vida (Starz)

Work in Progress (Showtime)

Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBTQ character)

“Love” Drunk History (Comedy Central)

“Murdered at a Bad Address” Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

“Spontaneous Combustion” Easy (Netflix)

“This Extraordinary Being” Watchmen (HBO)

“Two Doors Down” Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings (Netflix)

Outstanding TV Movie

Deadwood: The Movie (HBO)

Let It Snow (Netflix)

Rent: Live (FOX)

Transparent: Musicale Finale (Amazon)

Trapped: The Alex Cooper Story (Lifetime)

Outstanding Limited Series

Mrs. Fletcher (HBO)

The Red Line (CBS)

Tales of the City (Netflix)

When They See Us (Netflix)

Years & Years (HBO)

Outstanding Kids & Family Programming

Andi Mack (The Disney Channel)

The Bravest Knight (Hulu)

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Disney+)

The Loud House (Nickelodeon)

“Mr. Ratburn and the Special Someone” Arthur (PBS)

Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling (Netflix)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix)

Steven Universe: The Movie (Cartoon Network)

“A Tale of Two Nellas” Nella the Princess Knight (Nick Jr.)

Twelve Forever (Netflix)

Outstanding Reality Program

Are You the One? (MTV)

Bachelor in Paradise (ABC)

I Am Jazz (TLC)

Queer Eye (Netflix)

RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1)

Outstanding Music Artist

Adam Lambert, Velvet: Side A (More is More/Empire)

Brittany Howard, Jaime (ATO)

Kevin Abstract, ARIZONA BABY (Question Everything/RCA)

Kim Petras, Clarity (Bunhead)

King Princess, Cheap Queen (Zelig/Columbia Records)

Lil Nas X, 7 (Columbia)

Melissa Etheridge, The Medicine Show (ME Records/Concord)

Mika, My Name Is Michael Holbrook (Casablanca/Republic Records)

Tegan and Sara, Hey, I’m Just Like You (Sire)

Young M.A, Herstory in the Making (M.A Music/3D)

Outstanding Comic Book

The Avant-Guards, written by Carly Usdin (BOOM! Studios)

Bloom, written by Kevin Panetta (First Second)

Crowded, written by Christopher Sebela (Image Comics)

Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, written by Mariko Tamaki (DC Comics)

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, written by Mariko Tamaki (First Second)

Liebestrasse, written by Greg Lockard (ComiXology Originals)

Lumberjanes, written by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh (BOOM! Studios)

Runaways, written by Rainbow Rowell (Marvel Comics)

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, written by Simon Spurrier (Marvel Comics)

The Wicked + Divine, written by Kieron Gillen (Image Comics)

Outstanding Video Game

Apex Legends (Electronic Arts)

Borderlands 3 (2K Games)

The Outer Worlds (Private Division)

Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment)

The Walking Dead: The Final Season (Skybound Entertainment)

Outstanding Broadway Production

Choir Boy, by Tarell Alvin McCraney

The Inheritance, by Matthew Lopez

Jagged Little Pill, book by Diablo Cody, lyrics by Alanis Morissette, music by Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard

Slave Play, by Jeremy O. Harris

What the Constitution Means to Me, by Heidi Schreck

Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Episode

“Billy Porter Serves Cataract Realness, Fashion, and Tonys” The View (ABC)

“Ellen Meets Inspiring Mormon Valedictorian” The Ellen Show (Syndicated/Telepictures Productions)

“Jacob Tobia – Promoting a ‘Gender-Chill’ Exploration of Identity with ‘Sissy’” The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)

“Jonathan Van Ness: Honey, She’s An Onion With All Sorts of Layers” The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)

“Lilly Is Struggling to Date Women” A Little Late with Lilly Singh (NBC)

Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage

Advocate

Billboard

Entertainment Weekly

OUT

Variety

Outstanding Blog

Gays with Kids

JoeMyGod

My Fabulous Disease

Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents

TransGriot

Special Recognition

Special (Netflix)

Karen Ocamb, news editor, Los Angeles Blade

Mark Segal, founder and publisher, Philadelphia Gay News