What do off-Broadway lesbians have to do with Barbara Walters? They both won GLAAD awards Monday March 17th in New York.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's (GLAAD) 19th Annual Media Awards kicked off in New York Monday with a full red carpet. Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Alan Cumming, and Graham Norton were among the celebrities in attendance. GLAAD Media Awards honor fair and accurate representation of GLBT people in film, television, and journalism.

Recognizing an openly GLBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for the gay community, MTV president Brian Graden won the Vito Russo Award. In accepting the award from American Idol judge Randy Jackson and actor Alec Mapa, Graden said, “Should we really accept present reality? A world where jobs are not protected? ...Where I can't marry the man I love or have a family? Once and for all, the answer is never shall we accept that reality...because we are not invisible.”

Paramount's Stardust won in the outstanding film in wide release category. Sienna Miller, Claire Danes, and Robert De Niro star in the fantasy-adventure movie. Openly gay Ian McKellen and Ruperet Everett also make appearances. The Bubble (Strand Releasing), the limited release winner, is director Eytan Fox's sometimes-comical-sometimes-political look at Israeli-Palestine relationships through the prism of gay love.

Lesbian affairs in 1950s Greenwich Village explode on stage in the Beebo Brinker Chronicles, GLAAD Media Award winner for outstanding New York Theater.

The New York Times won for outstanding newspaper overall coverage.

In the category of Outstanding TV Journalism-Newsmagazine, CBS's 60 Minutes shared the award with ABC's 20/20. In 60 Minutes' Don't Ask Don't Tell, Leslie Stahl explores the possibility that the military is more tolerant of gay members in wartime.

Barbara Walters said upon accepting her award for My Secret Self: A Story Of Transgender Children, “You can forget all the Emmys, this means more to me.”

Additional awards will be presented in South Florida on April 12th at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Los Angeles on April 26th at the Kodak Theater, and in San Francisco on May 10th at the San Francisco Marriott.

Gay Entertainment Report is a feature of On Top Magazine and can be reach at ontopmag@ontopmag.com.