In her opening remarks Saturday at the
GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco, host Naya Rivera,who plays
Santana on the Fox musical-comedy Glee, said “playing gay is
good in every way.”
At the final installment of the media
watchdog group's awards show, Sex and the City 2 star Kim
Cattrall was honored with the group's Golden Gate Award, which is
presented to a media professional who, through his or her work, has
increased the visibility and understanding of the LGBT community.
“Kim Cattrall has not only grown
acceptance of our community through storylines on shows like Sex
and the City, but used her platform to speak out for equality,”
said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios in a statement. “We are proud
to honor such a talented and passionate advocate.”
The lesbian moms film The Kids Are
All Right won best film in wide release.
8: The Mormon Proposition, which
focuses on the roll the Mormon Church played in getting California's
gay marriage ban approved, won best documentary, and Christina Chavez
took home the group's Outstanding Spanish-Language Music Artist
award.
Rivera told the crowd that she was led
to believe that she was attending the GLEED awards and shared with
them her prepared speech.
“Thank you for this amazing honor,”
Rivera said, “I couldn't have done it without the incredible on-air
lesbians who came before me.”
She went on to name several television
characters, including “that girl who everyone thinks is me on
Pretty Little Liars,” referring to Shay Mitchell.
“I am here to tell you that playing
gay is good in every way. And that hopefully the huge increases in
gay and lesbian characters will lead to more diverse and
transgender-inclusive storylines.” (The video is embedded in the
right panel of this page.)