Awards

Two months after its Los Angeles counterpart, the 2024 GLAAD Media Awards hit New York City on Saturday (May 11) to reveal the rest of the winners and honor Orville Peck with the Vito Russo Award (presented by Jennifer Lawrence, no less). Additionally, Red, White, and Royal Blue received the GLAAD Media Award for queer fan favorite, presented by Cody Rigsby and Beanie Feldstein.
Billboard was among the winners, earning the award for outstanding print article for Pride Editor Stephen Daw’s June 2023 cover story, which found Maren Morris don Willie Nelson drag and go deep with drag artists Eureka O’Hara, Landon Cider, Sasha Colby and Symone about the proliferation of drag bans around the country. The honor comes six years after Billboard won its first GLAAD Media Award for outstanding magazine overall coverage in 2018.

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Here’s a list of the categories that were presented at the Midtown Hilton Hotel on Saturday night, with winners marked. You can see the winners announced at the 2024 GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles here.

Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Episode

“Certainty” Turning the Tables with Robin Roberts (Disney+)

“Chaos, Law, and Order” The Problem With Jon Stewart (Apple TV+)

“Cynthia Nixon and Kim Petras” Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen (Bravo)

“Dulcé Sloan & Sasha Colby Talk What It Means to Be A Happy Trans Person” The Daily Show (Comedy Central)

“Elliot Page Opens Up In New Memoir: ‘It Felt Like The Right Time’” The View (ABC)

“The Hardest Fight Is the Fight Against Status Quo” The Conversations Project (Hulu)

“I’m Not Just Gay, I’m Your Son” Karamo (syndicated)

WINNER: “Jennifer Hudson Surprises HIV Activist with $10,000” The Jennifer Hudson Show (syndicated)

“Trace Lysette & Patricia Clarkson, Laverne Cox” The Kelly Clarkson Show (syndicated)

“Unapologetically Me” Tamron Hall (syndicated)

Outstanding TV Journalism Segment

“11th Hour: Transgender Athletes and What People Don’t Understand” The 11th Hour (MSNBC)

“19-Year-Old Designer CJ King Gets Second Chance to Walk the Runway” GMA3 (ABC)

“The All in Y’all” (KEYE-TV CBS Austin)

“Anti-LGBTQ+ Law in Uganda that Threatens the Death Penalty Sparks International Outcry” PBS Newshour (PBS)

“Bringing Queer Joy into the World of Hip-Hop” ABC News Live Prime (ABC News Live)

“Des Moines LGBTQ Community Hosts First-Ever ‘People’s Pride’” (WOI-TV Local 5 Des Moines)

“Geena Rocero Talks About Her New Memoir ‘Horse Barbie’ and the Power of Living Unapologetically” CBS Mornings (CBS)

“How Eco-Drag Queen Pattie Gonia Defines What It Means to Fight for the Environment” Nightline (ABC)

WINNER: “New York City Gay Bar Deaths Classified as Homicides” (NBC News Now)

“One-on-One with the President of the American Medical Association (AMA)” The CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell (CBS)

Outstanding TV Journalism – Long-Form

“Beyond Limits: Who I Am” CBS Sports (CBS)

“CBS Reports: A Nation in Transition” CBS News (CBS)

“Club Q One Year Later” (KKTV CBS 11 Colorado)

“Freedom to Exist” Soul of a Nation (ABC)

“It’s Ok To Ask Questions – Pidgeon Pagonis” (WMAQ-TV NBC 5 Chicago)

“Marty’s Place: Where Hope Lives” (+Life Media with KGO-TV & ABC Localish)

WINNER: “Our America: Who I’m Meant to Be” (ABC Owned Television Stations)

“Proud Voices: A NY1 Special” (Spectrum News NY1)

“Serving in Secret: Love, Country and ‘Dont Ask Don’t Tell’” (MSNBC)

“VICE Special Report – Out Loud // Big Freedia Presents: Young Queer Artists To Look Out For” (Vice News)

Outstanding Live TV Journalism – Segment or Special

“Capehart on SCOTUS rulings: ‘My Possibilities are Up to Them, Not Up to Me’”  The Last Word (MSNBC)

“CNN’s Anderson Cooper Speaks With Lauri Carleton’s Daughter, Ari Carleton, About Her Mother’s Legacy” Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN)

“Flipping the Script: Live Interviews on LGBTQ+ Community” Morning News NOW (NBC News Now)

“Gio Benitez Interviews Sasha Velour on Her Book and the Climate of Drag in America” Good Morning America (ABC)

WINNER: “Indiana Students Put on LGBTQ-Themed Play Themselves After it’s Canceled By the School” Yasmin Vossoughian Reports (MSNBC)

“José Díaz-Balart Reports: A Texas Mother’s Fight: the Case for Gender-Affirming Care” José Díaz-Balart Reports (MSNBC)

“One-on-One with Eureka O’Hara” The Reid Out (MSNBC)

“Pride Across America” (ABC News Live)

“TikTok Sensations ‘The Old Gays’ Talk About How They Became Friends and Their New Docuseries” TODAY with Hoda & Jenna (NBC)

“Two Anti-LGBTQ Bills Advance to Louisiana House” Breakdown (WWL-TV CBS New Orleans)

Outstanding Print Article

WINNER: “As Drag Bans Proliferate, Maren Morris Goes Deep With Drag’s Biggest Stars on Why the Show Must Go On” by Stephen Daw (Billboard)

“Black Queer History is American History” by Myeshia Price (TIME)

“‘But Most of All I’m Human’: These 3 Transgender Teens Prove Identity Stretches Beyond One Label” by Susan Miller (USA TODAY)

“The Dancer” by Matt Kemper (The Atlanta-Journal Constitution)

“Heroism Overpowers Hate” by John Sotomayor (Embrace Magazine)

“Kim Petras Is Breaking the Mold” by Jeff Nelson (People)

“Pop Icons Are ‘Mothers’ Now. The LGBTQ Ballroom Scene Wants Credit.” by Samantha Cherry (The Washington Post)

“Stop Bad Hair and Uglier Legislation (The New Classics)” by Karen Giberson (AC Magazine)

“Transgender Youth: ‘Forced Outing’ Bills Make Schools Unsafe” by Hannah Schoenbaum and Sean Murphy (AP)

“We Have the Tools to Stop HIV. So Why Is It Still Spreading?” by LZ Granderson (Los Angeles Times)

Outstanding Online Journalism Article

WINNER: “The AP Interview: Pope Francis Says Homosexuality Not a Crime” by Nicole Winifield (AP.com)

“Book Banners Came for This Colorado Town. They Didn’t Anticipate Resistance.” By Jeff Fuentes Gleghorn (LGBTQNation.com)

“Evidence Undermines ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria’ Claims” by Timmy Broderick (ScientificAmerican.com)

“From Drag Bans to Sports Restrictions, 75 Anti-LGBTQ Bills Have Become Law in 2023” by Jo Yurcaba (NBCNews.com)

“How the Latinx Drag Queens of Brooklyn Are Finding Freedom through Their Cultures” by Juan De Dios Sanchez Jurado (TeenVogue.com)

“Pedro Zamora, ‘Real World’ Star Who Died of AIDS, ‘Humanized the Disease for a Generation,’ Say Activists” by David Artavia (Yahoo.com)

“Pride Month Feels Different As Threats, Fear of Violence Grows” by Brooke Migdon (TheHill.com)

“Some Trans Kids Are Being Forced to Flee America for Their Safety” by Nico Lang (HuffPost.com)

“Stochastic Terrorism: Links between the GOP, Right-Wing Influencers & Neo-Nazi Violence” by Christopher Wiggins (Advocate.com)

“What Does Queer Gen Z Want on TV? Everything under the Rainbow” by Jude Cramer (INTOMore.com)

Outstanding Online Journalism – Video or Multimedia

WINNER: “7 Remarkable Trans Elders Share Lessons for the Next Generation” (them.us)

“Brave Spaces” (PBS.org)

“CANS Can’t Stand” (NewYorker.com)

“Club Q: Stronger Together” (NFL.com)

“‘I’ve Always Known I Was Different’: Four Trans People Share Their Stories” (WashingtonPost.com)

“Michaela Jaé Rodriguez Calls Out the New York Times’ Anti-Trans Coverage & Advice for Trans Youth” (Variety.com)

“Moving Isa” (Insider.com)

“People Come Out to Their Parents | Truth or Drink” (Cut.com)

“Protecting Pride: Resilience after Tragedy – Club Q Survivors Fight to Project Their Community” (GoodMorningAmerica.com)

“Transnational” (Vice.com)

Outstanding Blog

Charlotte’s Web Thoughts

WINNER: Erin in the Morning

Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

LawDork

Mombian

Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents

The Queer Review

The Randy Report

The Reckoning

Outstanding Reality Program

Bargain Block (HGTV)

WINNER: Family Karma (Bravo)

I Am Jazz (TLC)  

Living for the Dead (Hulu)

Queer Eye (Netflix)

Real Housewives of New York City (Bravo)

Selling Sunset (Netflix)

Swiping America (Max)

TRANSworld Atlanta (Tubi)

The Ultimatum: Queer Love (Netflix)

Outstanding Broadway Production

Fat Ham, by James Ijames

How to Dance in Ohio, by Jacob Yandura and Rebekah Greer Melocik

WINNER: Melissa Etheridge: My Window, by Melissa Etheridge

Once Upon a One More Time, by Jon Hartmere

The Sign in Sydney Brustein’s Window, by Lorraine Hansberry

Outstanding Podcast

Finding Fire Island (Broadway Podcast Network)

Gay and Afraid with Eric Sedeño (Past Your Bedtime)

WINNNER: Las Culturistas (iHeart)

NPR’s Embedded (NPR)

Queen of Hearts (Wondery)

Rooted Recovery Stories (Promises Behavioral Health)

Sibling Rivalry (Studio 71)

That Conversation With Tarek Ali (Buzz Sprout)

This Queer Book Saved My Life (This Queer Book Productions, LLC)

TransLash (TransLash Media)

Outstanding Film – Streaming Or TV

Cassandro (Amazon Prime Video)

Christmas on Cherry Lane (Hallmark Channel)

Friends & Family Christmas (Hallmark Channel)

Frybread Face and Me (Array Releasing)

Nuovo Olimpo (Netflix)

Nyad (Netflix)

Red, White, and Royal Blue (Amazon Prime Video)

Runs in the Family (Indigenous Film Distribution)

WINNER: Rustin (Netflix)

You’re Not Supposed To Be Here (Lifetime Television)

Outstanding Documentary (Multiple winners)

WINNER: Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later (MTV Documentary Films)

Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate (Netflix)

Every Body (Focus Features)

WINNER: Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures)

Little Richard: I Am Everything (Magnolia Pictures)

Orlando, My Political Biography (Janus Films)

Rainbow Rishta (Amazon Prime Video)

Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed (HBO Documentary Films)

WINNER: The Stroll (HBO)

“UYRA – The Rising Forest“ POV (PBS)

Outstanding New Series

The Buccaneers (Apple TV+)

Class (Netflix)

Culprits (Hulu)

Deadloch (Amazon Prime Video)

Everything Now (Netflix)

Found (NBC)

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies (Paramount+)

WINNER: The Last of Us (HBO)

The Other Black Girl (Hulu)

Tore (Netflix)

Outstanding Kids & Family Programming or Film – Live Action

WINNER: Heartstopper (Netflix)

High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (Disney+)

Jane (AppleTV+)

Power Rangers Cosmic Fury (Netflix)

XO, Kitty (Netflix)

Outstanding Online Journalism Article (Spanish Language)

“Abogan por una política pública contra la violencia hacia la comunidad trans en Puerto Rico” por Carolina Gracia (ElVocero.com)

“La activista trans que sepulta a sus amigas olvidadas: ‘Los primeros cuerpos los velaba yo sola, solita’” por Daniel Alonso Viña (ElPais.com)

“Carlos Adyan nos invita a su boda civil con Carlos Quintanilla: ‘Todo ha pasado como yo soñaba’” por Lena Hansen (PeopleEnEspanol.com)

“El eterno desafío de ser un hombre o mujer trans en El Salvador” por María Teresa Hernández (APnews.com)

“Familias latinas con menores trans temen a nuevas leyes que limitan el acceso a tratamientos médicos: ‘Es lo que ha mantenido a mi hija viva’” por Anagilmara Vílchez y Lourdes Hurtado (Telemundo.com)

“‘Hemos huido de algo muy cruel’: las familias que buscan una vida mejor para sus hijos transgénero en otros estados de EE.UU.” por Leire Ventas (BBC.com)

WINNER: “Personas mayores LGBTQIA+ ‘tienen que regresar a un clóset para poder buscar vivienda’” por David Cordero Mercado y Joaquín A. Rosado Lebrón (PeriodismoInvestigativo.com & ElNuevoDia.com)

“Quiero que todo el mundo pueda decir libremente ‘así soy yo’” por Maria Mercedes Acosta (Sentiido.com)

“Reconocimiento a medias también es estigmatizante: RAE agrega ‘no binario/a’ a su diccionario” por Alex Orue (Homosensual.com)

“Wendy Guevara, la ‘perdida’ que lo ganó todo” por Jonathan Saldaña y Mari Tere Lelo de Larrea (Quien.com)

Outstanding Online Journalism – Video or Multimedia (Spanish Language)

WINNER: “Conoce a la primera diputada negra y trans de Brasil” por Natalia Barrera Francis, Joyce García, David von Blohn, Paula Daibert y Claudia Escobar (Descoloniza – AJ+ Español)

“La increíble historia de cómo ‘Mami Ruddys’ refugió a decenas de jóvenes LGBTIQ en Puerto Rico” por Marcos Billy Guzmán y Pablo Martínez Rodríguez (El Nuevo Día)

“Mi novio vive con VIH y yo no: ser una pareja serodiscordante” por Mariana Escobar Bernoske y Daniela Rojas (La Disidencia – El Espectador)

“This gay cowboy convention celebrates sexual freedom — and Mexican identity” por Jackeline Luma, Kate Linthicum y Maggie Beidelman (Los Angeles Times)

“Villano Antillano cuenta todo de la realidad Queer de su música” por Yollotl Alvarado, René Barreto, Alfredo Castellanos, Sofía Reyes, Rai Irizarry, Arjun Demeyere, Luis Ramírez, Florencia Botinelli, Iván Juárez y Sebastian Fernández (GQ México y Latinoamérica)

On Saturday (May 11), there was only one show on planet Earth that could boast more queer energy than the Eurovision Song Contest, and that was the 2024 GLAAD Media Awards in New York City at the Midtown Hilton Hotel.
And not unlike this year’s Eurovision in Malmö, Sweden, the event was not without protestors. A small group of protestors accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people picketed outside the hotel’s entrance during the 35th annual GLAAD Media Awards; more notably, at the top of the show itself, one attendee interrupted the opening monologue by host Ross Matthews to repeatedly declare “GLAAD is complicit in genocide” before being escorted out.

“That was uncomfy for everybody,” Matthews said after a pause. “But you know what? We have to fight for everyone’s rights – and that’s one of them.”

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While the Israel-Hamas War didn’t come up again that night, politics were still central to the GLAAD Media Awards, as always. New York Attorney General Letitia James made an appearance to celebrate LGBTQ New Yorkers and speak out for trans rights; GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis urged attendees to use their “platform and privilege” to ensure that the next U.S. president will be a human who values LGBTQ rights — and warned that the Supreme Court “will roll back our legal marriages like they rolled back Roe v. Wade” in a powerful, fiery speech; and one very famous Oscar winner took a couple of hilarious pot shots at a former U.S. vice president during the show.

Jennifer Lawrence (rocking a Veronica Lake haircut) appeared to celebrate “my favorite musician and good friend Orville Peck,” who was receiving the Vito Russo Award (named after the late activist and author of The Celluloid Closet) at the 2024 GLAAD Media Awards.

“I love seeing so many humans who can top their field while still being power bottoms,” Lawrence cracked. Talking about her love for the gay community, Lawrence said she once fell in love with a gay man, but soon realized her advances were for naught. “Conversion therapy doesn’t work,” she said. “Did you hear me, Mike Pence? I said conversion therapy is not real – even though you think it worked on you.”

Accepting the award, Peck talked about being a singer-songwriter in a genre that’s not always been the most open to the LGBTQ community. “I’m one of many of us here who have felt excluded or held back because of who we are,” Peck said, adding that queer people nevertheless manage to “turn tragedy into art, humor and culture.”

Peck also spoke on the “responsibility for visibility” when it comes to all minority communities and what it means to the next generation “to allow some kid in a small town who loves country music to see themselves in me or Mickey Guyton or T.J. Osborne.”

Earlier in the night, Jennifer Hudson – who already has an EGOT – added another award to her trophy room when she hit the stage to accept the GLAAD for outstanding variety or talk show episode, for an episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show in which she surprised HIV activist Ian Haddock (of the Normal Anomaly Initiative) with $10,000.

After a fundraising portion that raised more than $350,000, Loren Allred took the stage to perform an emotional version of “Never Enough” from The Greatest Showman, as well as the upbeat “Come Alive.” The latter was a duet, with Scott Hoying (of Pentatonix and Superfruit) joining her on the lightly funky vocal showcase.

Toward the end of the night, Billboard (and Billboard‘s Pride Editor Stephen Daw) were honored when GLAAD named Billboard‘s 2023 Pride Issue cover story the outstanding print article of the year. The (now award-winning) article, written by Daw, is a wide-ranging, in-depth interview with Maren Morris and four drag artists about the proliferation of drag bans in the United States. You can read it here.