Broadway legend Kristin Chenoweth and
NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt were honored for their
gay rights advocacy at Sunday night's GLAAD Media Awards in Los
Angeles.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation's (GLAAD) 22nd Annual Media Awards show was
co-hosted by Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones, stars of the NBC comedy
Parks & Recreation.
Special guest Dolly Parton presented
the Stephen F. Kolzak Award to Greenblatt, whose work has included
two groundbreaking gay dramas – Queer as Folk and The L
Word. The award recognizes an openly gay media professional who
has made a significant difference in promoting equality for the LGBT
community.
“I'm very grateful to everyone at
GLAAD for thinking of me for this honor,” Greenblatt said in
accepting the award. “I salute all the producers, writers, network
executives, and actors who took on the issue and broke ground way
before I did --- and who continue to do it today. Many of you are in
the room tonight. I share this award with you. While we still have
a long way to go, we have made great strides both politically and in
our media. May that not only continue, but increase in velocity…
because we can help change the way the world thinks about LGBT
people, not to mention how LGBT people think about themselves.”
Sean Hayes presented the group's
Vanguard Award to Chenoweth, an outspoken advocate for gay rights.
“I want to encourage many people of
all faiths to come forward and stand with me,” Chenoweth said in
her remarks. “Even if you don't believe in Jesus the way I do, he
did teach love -- not just tolerance, but acceptance. I'm lucky I
had parents who adopted me at birth, conservative Southern Baptists
who said, 'You will love everyone the same' … Mostly I would like
to thank GLAAD for this amazing, amazing honor. This is the biggest
honor I have ever received.”
Prime
time comedies Glee and Modern Family tied to win the
outstanding comedy award.