So. GLAAD has announced the nominees for its 19th Annual Media Awards. And I know I should ignore them, but it's like poking at a loose tooth. You just can't stop. But ... you know, for this particular year, they did kind of shockingly well, on the whole.

They've somewhat gotten over that pesky insistence on nominating only the Big Straight Companies for awards, because gay people working in gay-identified media could not possibly be doing anything worth awarding. (Seriously, that was their position through last year, when they took a well deserved and prolonged public shellacking over it.) Let's take a look at a selected few categories, shall we? Let's shall. (NB: I"m ignoring all the theater categories and most of the music categories, since I've bought, like two albums in the past year, and attended not a single theater event in either Los Angeles or New York. Ever.)

FILM - WIDE RELEASE
Across the Universe (Revolution Studios)
The Jane Austen Book Club (Sony Pictures Classics)
Stardust (Paramount Pictures)


Having not seen it, I've no idea why "Across the Universe" was nominated. I know why "Jane Austen Book Club" was nominated, and ... eh. Whatever. And I understand why "Stardust" was nominated and ... I would not have done that, myself. It's not just deNiro's operatically over the top portrayal of a theoretically gay pirate(ish) captain. (Literally. An opera record was involved.) It's his crew discovering his transvestite tendencies and saying that they'd known for a while and were OK with it ... as long as he made sure not to display such tendencies where anyone could see them. That said, it's not as though wide-distribution films with realistic and/or positive portrayals of gay people were exactly thick on the ground this year,.

Film - Limited Release
The Bubble (Strand Releasing)
Dirty Laundry (Codeblack Entertainment)
Itty Bitty Titty Committee (Pocket Releasing)
Nina's Heavenly Delights (Regent Releasing)
Whole New Thing (Picture This! Entertainment)


AKA the gay film festival movie category. Actually, a pretty good list.

Drama Series
Brothers & Sisters (ABC)
Degrassi: The Next Generation (The N)
Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)
Greek (ABC Family)
The L Word (Showtime)


Requiring one or more regular gay, lesbian, bisexual or transsexual characters. And a pretty good list, again. (Had to think about "Dirty Sexy Money" for a while before I remembered that Candis Cayne plays a transsexual character with whom a senatorial candidate is having an affair.)

Comedy Series
Desperate Housewives (ABC)
Exes and Ohs (Logo)
The Sarah Silverman Program (Comedy Central)
Ugly Betty (ABC)
The War at Home (Fox)


And again, not a bad list at all. Plus, an actual gay media-produced series! Oh my!

Individual Episode (in a series w/o a regular LGBT character)
"Boy Crazy" Cold Case (CBS)
"Do Tell" Boston Legal (ABC)
"Free to Be You and Me" Kyle XY (ABC Family)
"The Gangs of Camden County" My Name is Earl (NBC)
"Sin" Law & Order: SVU (NBC)


No opinion; I don't actually watch a single one of those shows.

Television Movie, Mini-Series or Anthology
Daphne (Logo)
The DL Chronicles (here!)
The State Within (BBC America)


No opinion; the only one I've seen is "The DL Chronicles". But hey! Another gay media-produced miniseries!

Documentary
Camp Out (Logo)
Cruel and Unusual: Transgender Women in Prison (WE tv)
For the Bible Tells Me So (First Run Features)
Freddie Mercury: Magic Remixed (VH1/Logo)
Small Town Gay Bar (Logo)


And that is actually a very good list of documentaries. Interesting mix of producers as well; I'm mildly surprised that they allowed Logo to dominate the category like that. Of course, it helps that Logo runs a regular documentary series.

Reality Program
"Chase/Lane" Trading Spouses (Fox)
Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List (Bravo)
Project Runway (Bravo)
Who Wants to Be a Superhero? (SciFi Channel)
Work Out (Bravo)


...You know, much as I like Kathy Griffin, there is in fact nothing particularly gay about her show, despite her love for "her gays". I wonder if there's a specific episode they're citing? But whatever; otherwise, allowing that they're doing Emmy/Grammy style part/whole comparisons (one episode of "Trading Spouses" versus four complete series?), it's not a bad list.

Daily Drama
All My Children (ABC)
As The World Turns (CBS)


Entirely expected; a transgender storyline on AMC, and a gay romance on ATWT. Frankly, I'd give 'em both awards, and I believe the GLAAD media award is juried, so they might actually be able to do just that.

Talk Show Episode
"Born in the Wrong Body" The Oprah Winfrey Show (syndicated)
"Gay Around the World" The Oprah Winfrey Show (syndicated)
"Gay Athletes & Rappers: It's Not In to be Out" The Tyra Banks Show (syndicated)
"Growing Up Intersex" The Oprah Winfrey Show (syndicated)
"Transgender Kids" The Tyra Banks Show (syndicated)


...Nobody but Oprah and Tyra do gay/transgender pieces? Seriously, given the plethora of talk shows around, that's just sad. No reflection on GLAAD, though; you run with what you got.

TV Journalism - Newsmagazine
Born in the Wrong Body (MSNBC)
"A Church Divided" In the Life (PBS)
"Don't Ask Don't Tell" 60 Minutes (CBS)
"My Secret Self: A Story of Transgender Children" 20/20 (ABC)
"A Royal Scandal" Primetime: Family Secrets (ABC)


Again, not a bad list as far as I can tell, although I've only seen two of the five pieces. I would suggest that they need to do a better job of defining this category and the "News Segment" category, though; they've again got parts of shows competing against entire shows. Logically, "A Church Divided" or "Born in the Wrong Body" should win, just because it's easier to do an in-depth piece when you've got 42 minutes instead of 15.

TV Journalism - News Segment
"The First Casualty" Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN)
"Gay Homeless Teens" Uncovering America (CNN)
"Gospel of Inclusion" Uncovering America (CNN)
"Sent Away to 'Change'" Good Morning America (ABC)
"Sex Change Controversy" Paula Zahn Now (CNN)


Interesting. CBS News on Logo didn't even get a look in.

Newspaper Article
"Aging and Gay, and Facing Prejudice in Twilight" by Jane Gross (The New York Times)
"Girl/Boy Interrupted" by Lauren Smiley (SF Weekly)
"In a Progressive State, a City Where Gay Life Hangs by a Thread" by Andrew Jacobs (The New York Times)
"Line in Sand for Same-Sex Couples" by Teresa Watanabe (Los Angeles Times)
"What the Heart Wants" by Lane DeGregory (St. Petersburg Times)


Hmm. I think I shall decline to comment, except to note that I remember both of the NY Times articles, which were both very interesting.

Newspaper Columnist
Christine Daniels (Los Angeles Times)
Alfred Doblin (The Record [Bergen, NJ])
Mark Morford (San Francisco Chronicle)
Frank Rich (The New York Times)
Rebecca Walsh (The Salt Lake Tribune)


Newspaper Overall Coverage
The Boston Globe
Los Angeles Times
The New York Times
The Seattle Times
San Francisco Chronicle


And again, no comment on either of the above categories.

Magazine Article
"Akinola’s Power Play" by Kerry Eleveld (The Advocate)
"Dying to Come Out: The War on Gays in Iraq" by David France (GQ)
"The Kingdom in the Closet" by Nadya Labi (The Atlantic Monthly)
"(Rethinking) Gender" by Debra Rosenberg (Newsweek)
"Special Report: Gays at War" by Marc Haeringer, William Henderson, Michael Rowe, Corey Scholibo, and Bernice Yeung (The Advocate)


A good set of nominees.

Magazine Overall Coverage
The Advocate
CosmoGIRL!
Entertainment Weekly
Newsweek
Us Weekly


...I have not the slightest idea what they were looking for in that category. (I have heard that CosmoGIRL does really well with gay and lesbian issues; shockingly well, considering the age group it's aiming at. It's the Us Weekly and Entertainment Weekly nominations that surprise.)

Digital Journalism Article
"Gay Newsmen - A Clearer Picture" by James Hillis (AfterElton.com)
"Gender and the Pulpit" by Lauren McCauley (Newsweek.com)
"Officially 'I Do'" by Tracy Stokes (BET.com)
"Oregon State Coach Fulfills Dream of Becoming Father" by Graham Hays (ESPN.com)
"Why the T in LGBT is Here to Stay" by Susan Stryker (Salon.com)


No particular comment, except to say that the ESPN article is actually kind of awesome. If all the articles are as strong as that one, it's a really good category.

Digital Journalism – Multimedia
"The Advocate 40th Anniversary'" (Advocate.com)
"Fuera del Closet: Gay Hispanic Immigrants in Dallas" by Sergio Chapa (NewAmericaMedia.org)
"Landmark Moments in Gay Hollywood" by Mark S. Luckle (EW.com)
"Uncovering America: Fighting for Acceptance" (CNN.com)


I would not have put the Advocate's celebration of itself with the others, but it's not a bad list.

Comic Book
American Virgin by Steven T. Seagle (Vertigo/DC Comics)
The Boys by Garth Ennis (Dynamite Entertainment)
Midnighter by Garth Ennis, Brian K. Vaughan, Christos Gage, Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti, and Keith Giffin (Wildstorm/DC Comics)
The Outsiders by Judd Winick, Greg Rucka, and Tony Bedard (DC Comics)
Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore (Abstract Studio)


You know, I actually understand why they nominated all of those series. American Virgin has both a lesbian and a transgender character; Strangers in Paradise has a lead lesbian and bisexual character, The Outsiders has two lesbian characters, Midnighter has ... well, Midnighter, and is the only one of the series listed with a gay or lesbian lead character; The Boys ... well, it's not an unreasonable nomination, put it that way. It's because of one specific story arc, and I get why they did that. Mind, it's not at all what I'd have done, but then, I don't read anything on that list but Strangers in Paradise (which should win, easily, and which won't win because the title isn't high profile enough).
.

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