ABC and Milk lead nominees for awards from the 20th annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards.

ABC has become a steadfast fixture at the awards show, which aims to recognize positive portrayals of the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the media. This year ABC earned six nominations with Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty among its contenders. This is the third year in a row for ABC to lead in television nominations.

CBS posted four nominations. A gay-affirming story line in As The World Turns will compete with ABC's All My Children in the Outstanding Daily Drama category. NBC trails with only two nominations for single episodes of the medical drama ER and daily newsmagazine Today.

Best picture Oscar nominee Milk topped the list in the Outstanding Film in Wide Release category. The Focus Features film about the life and politics of San Francisco gay activist Harvey Milk arrived just in time to weigh in on California's gay marriage ban. It will compete against Miramax Film's Brideshead Revisited, Columbia Pictures' Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Warner Bros' RocknRolla, and The Weinstein Company's Vicky Christina Barcelona.

The mostly unknown films in the limited release category will certainly benefit from their nomination.

The nominations are Strand Releasing's The Edge of Heaven, New Open Door Productions' Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom, First Run Features Save Me, Regent Releasing's Shelter, and Film Movement's XXY.

Gay cable channels Logo and here! swept the Outstanding Television Movie category. Three Logo produced movies – Affinity, East Side Story, and Oh Happy Day – and two Donald Strachey detective-themed films – Ice Blues and On The Other Hand, Death – produced by here! are in competition.

“The nominees this year prove that the stories of LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] Americans are interesting compelling and will touch not only LGBT audiences, but broader audiences as well,” GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano told the Associated Press.

Two special honors will be presented in New York to Tyra Banks and Suze Orman. Banks will receive the Excellence in Media award, and Orman will receive the Vito Russo award.

The GLAAD Media Awards – which recognize excellence in 41 categories including newspaper content, syndicated columnists and comic books – will be presented in a series of dinners: March 28 in New York, April 18 in Los Angeles and May 9 in San Franscico.

On the Net: GLAAD is at www.glaad.org