Singer Adam Lambert, California
Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and the San Francisco Giants will be
honored at the final installment of the 24th Annual GLAAD
Awards set to take place on May 11 at the Hilton San Francisco –
Union Square.
Lambert will receive the group's
Davidson/Valenti Award, which is named after Craig Davidson, GLAAD's
first executive director, and his partner Michael Valentini, and is
presented to an openly LGBT media professional who has made a
significant difference in promoting gay rights.
Newsom's gay rights advocacy will be
recognized with the Golden Gate Award. Previous recipients include
Jennifer Beals, Shonda Rhimes, Brooke Shields and Megan Mullally.
Newsom's involvement in the issue of
marriage equality goes back more than a decade.
In 2003, then-San Francisco Mayor
Newsom ordered city hall clerks to issue marriage licenses to gay and
lesbian couples in violation of state law. Several thousand gay
couples were married during the “winter of love,” but eventually
the California Supreme Court ordered the city to stop and invalidated
all the marriages.
Newsom said in a tweet that he was
“Very flattered to be honored by @GLAAD at #glaadawards in SF on
5/11!”
The San Francisco Giants are the first
professional sports team to be recognized by the group. The reigning
World Series champion will receive the Corporate Leader Award.
The Giants were the first professional
sports team to host an HIV/AIDS benefit game in 1994. The team was
also the first to record a video for the It Gets Better Project.
“The San Francisco Giants have taken
a leadership role when it comes to equality in sports,” GLAAD
spokesman Wilson Cruz said in a statement. “By being so outspoken
and supportive of the community, the team and its management have put
the conversation around the lack of gay players in major league
sports at the forefront of sports media around the country.”