Saturday night fellow Words With Girls person Lauren Neal accompanied me to the Ellen DeGeneres-hosted 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards, Los Angeles edition, where we worked the red carpet (video to come!), ate a lot of rolls, and tweeted frequently.
Dressing for this event was a special treat because my wardrobe is focused around the premise of being comfortable, and award show wardrobes are generally focused around the premise of looking good. This is how that went:
This was my first trip to the GLAAD Awards and I noticed that the presenter-to-award ratio is horribly askew and that nobody made any GLAAD/glad puns (probably used those up during the inaugural show). Naya Rivera did not host which might be my life’s greatest tragedy, but nevertheless, a fantastic time was had by all.
Also, Ellen DeGeneres did host and everybody loves Ellen and she came out dancing. Ellen Degeneres opened the show… much like she opened the minds of minds across America! Awwwww.
“Betty White is here. I didn’t know you were gay. Welcome sister.” – Ellen
Jason Mraz was slated to perform but couldn’t because he’s sick. This doesn’t surprise me as he looks like he’s been hanging out with feral cats. In lieu of a performance, he spoke about being bullied as a kid and having gay besties.
“Some of my best friends are L, G, T. I skipped B because I think all people have the potential to be B.” – Jason Mraz
Herndon Graddick took to the stage to testify as GLAAD’s newly appointed president. It was pretty cool. He cursed a lot in his speech so I think he should run their Twitter account.
“It’s 2012. We’re sick of this shit.” – Herndon Graddick
Then Jennifer Tyrrell told the touching story of being removed as den leader of her son’s Boy Scout troop and everybody cried a lot. I was really hungry at that point and was wondering why Boy Scouts didn’t make cookies, but it was also really moving and important.
“I don’t know why people are interested in same sex marriage. I’ve been having the same sex in my marriage for 30 years and it’s really fucking boring.” – Lisa Vanderpump
Modern Family continued their domination of any and every award show by taking home the award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Jesse Tyler Ferguson accepted the award from the cast of Hot in Cleveland. He seemed pretty excited about meeting Betty White. I think he enjoyed the award as well but I don’t think it was his top priority. Drop Dead Diva‘s “Prom” (which was based on the Constance McMillen situation, apparently) and Hot in Cleveland’s “Beards” tied for Outstanding Individual Episode. This tie made me curious about their voting process but not curious enough to actually look it up. Beginners won Outstanding Film – Wide Release.
Molly Shannon did an Angelina Jolie tribute by showing us her leg and undies, Sara Gilbert wore silver pants, and the opening montage included about .2 seconds of Pariah, which is not enough.
The Kolzak Award is presented to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equality and this year the winner was Chaz Bono. I think by the end of the night I’d seen the entire documentary.
During Chaz Bono‘s introduction, Cher made a surprise appearance. Cher is one of those people that doesn’t sound like an actual person. She sounds like an imitation of someone doing a Cher imitation. It’s really weird. Also, she’s rocking a giant fro these days, although I suppose she could’ve been rocking a giant ‘fro for a while now, but I don’t really keep up with Cher’s day-to-day.
Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images North America
“My pronouns for my child just jump all over the fucking place.” -Cher
Josh Hutcherson from The Hunger Games received the Vanguard Award from GLAAD and the Perfect Person Award from me. The Vanguard Award is given to media professionals who have increased the visibility and understanding of the LGBT community. The Perfect Person Award is given to whomever I decide to call a perfect person. I have given myself this award many times so Josh is in good company. He is the youngest recipient of both awards.
Hutcherson, who is the co-founder of advocacy group Straight But Not Narrow, lost his two gay uncles to AIDS and has been outspoken on the issue of LGBT equality for as long as he’s been in the public eye.
Other people in attendance included Portia de Rossi, Sara Gilbert, Linda Perry, Kim Wayans, Molly Shannon, Max Adler, Joshua Jackson, Milla Jovovich, Benicio del Toro, Ali Larter, Michelle Paradise and Grant Gustin.
UPI/Jim Ruymen
Here are our photos from the Red Carpet:
Max Adler and Tabatha Coffey
Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack and Chaz Bono
Kim Wayans
Lauren is really close to Peeta in this photo
Milla Jovovich
Joshua Jackson
us!
Thanks for this coverage Brittani and Autostraddle!
Boy Scouts make THE BEST gourmet popcorn, though! No seriously, caramel, chocolate, you name it. My brothers are all eagle scouts so there was always some lying around the house…
this is a true thing
Nice, thanks for the coverage.
“Some of my best friends are L, G, T. I skipped B because I think all people have the potential to be B.” – Jason Mraz
I wish straight people would stfu about how awesome queers are until they can manage to do it without being dilholes.
See also: Josh Hutcherson commenting on how sick he is of saying the words gay and lesbian, because we’re all just people, right? Stop naming your differences WE ALL BLEED RED.
For real.
“There are no bisexuals because everyone might be bisexual!” Ugh. And I know he’s not saying this as part of a defense for having said something bigoted, but if your sentence starts with “some of my best friends are…”, you probably just shouldn’t say it.
Yes – Mraz simultaneously erases both bisexuals and L/G at one fell swoop. So frustrating! Errrghh! Let us do us, Mraz.
Yeah I almost don’t get what he’s trying to say… Like, there aren’t bisexuals? Or that they’re moot because everyone “is” bisexual? In which case, all those other letters are moot too… Sigh.
Yeah, that really shit me too. Even if it was the case that everyone can happily have sex with anyone else, it totally neglects the fact by identifying as bisexual you’re more likely to be persecuted for many and various reasons.
Thanks for the recap! That picture of Sarah Gilbert and Linda Perry is entirely too adorable. Also, I couldn’t be happier that Jennifer Tyrrell and her family got the chance to tell their story to such a huge audience. Anyone who hasn’t signed her petition for changing the policies of BSA should do so at http://www.change.org it’s on the front page.
That picture of Cher really surprised me because I’ve been watching Smash and for some reason was under the impression that Anjelica Huston was Cher. I don’t get out much.
I wonder when Chaz Bono will start looking older than Cher.
Now!
Brittani you make me LOL more than Riese does. #shhhdonttellRiese
Also! Awesome photos/coverage. You guys killed it! And you looked smashing as well. All around win.
I think the fact that I still call Josh Hutcherson “Laser” first speaks volumes of how I associate him. Awesome job, kiddo =)
This has nada to do with nothing, but Lauren is kind of swagged. Love.
And also… Peeta!!!!!
I love his name. Because it’s how I pronounced my Cousin Peter’s name as a toddler. “Petehhh!”
You two look ballin! Nice coverage, you make it sounds so awesome. Also, Hannah Hart used the word “sups” as an abbreviation for super in a video she made with some chick who sings imitating people and I thought, “she watches ‘words with girls'”. good stuff.
She also says it in her latest quesadilla video. I take it as a subtle shout out.
y’all look supes cute. i said it