The 2016 Gays and Lesbians Allied Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards remained true to its history of pushing a radical LGBT agenda and misrepresenting the statistics of the gay population.
The 27th annual Awards were held in Los Angeles on Saturday, and celebrated the growing presence of LGBT people in the culture, especially the entertainment industry.
Inclusivity is “an imperative for better business truly,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD.
“Make sure that there’s diversity, that there’s women’s voices, that there’s people of color, that there’s trans voices, because the more voices we have we know the better business we have, we know the better stories we tell, we know the better movies we make,” she stated.
The Media Awards’ aim is to “honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their lives,” GLAAD says.
However, LGBT activists are notorious for ignoring the statistics of how represented gay people already are in the media. Less than 3 percent of the population identifies as LGBT, although given the reluctance of some to identify the figure is estimated a bit higher at 4 percent.
This is still much lower than the estimate U.S. adults gave in a 2011 Gallup poll that 25 percent of the population is gay. The estimate is not surprising given that GLAAD found in 2012-13 that TV boasted a hearty 4.4 percent of characters as LGBT, more than the highest estimate of their population entitles them to. Fox featured LGBT characters in 42 percent of their programming hours that year.
Yet much work remains to be done according to GLAAD.
In the past even networks worked closely with GLAAD to promote LGBT representation. TimeWarner asset CNN is a “Platinum Underwriter” of the GLAAD Media Awards and asked GLAAD’s advice on LGBT stories at least 41 times in two years. Between them NBC, ABC, and CBS turned to GLAAD only twice.
Many media professionals rose to the task this year.
Producer Lilly Wachowski, co-director of The Matrix won best drama series for his Sense8. It was his first appearance since he transitioned to a woman last month, following his brother Larry. Wachowski emphasized that the transgender movement is about love.
"While the ideas of identity and transformation are components of our work, the bedrock that all ideas rest upon is love,” he commented. “Love is a crucial thing for transgender people, it's a tether."
Orange in the New Black star Ruby Rose was presented with the Stephen F. Kolzak award by Taylor Swift for being an LGBT media professional promoting equality and acceptance.
Demi Lovato accepted the Vanguard Award saying it meant more to her than even any music award because, “this is the real stuff."
Of course not to be forgotten was Caitlyn Jenner, whose series I Am Cait tied for Outstanding Reality Program with the docuseries I Am Jazz about transgender teenager Jazz Jennings.
"We have so many issues with trans youth, suicide rates and murder rates,” Jenner remarked, “and with your example with your show, it gives these young people hope that they can survive those very difficult times as they grow up trying to figure out who they are."
Other award recipients included Queen Latifah, Perez Hilton, Carmen Carrera, Jaime Camil, and many others. Transparent, Sense8, and Carol took the top entertainment awards.
