The stars were out in force on Saturday night for the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles, where Bill Clinton was handed the ‘Advocate for Change Award’ by Harvey Weinstein and Jennifer Lawrence, while Leo DiCaprio and Charlize Theron gave entertainment lawyer Steve Warner the ‘Stephen F. Kolzak Award’ for his work for gay causes.
‘Outstanding Film – Wide Release’ went to The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, while The New Normal got ‘Outstanding Comedy Series’ and American Horror Story: Asylum won ‘Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series’.
Guests at the shindig included Darren Criss, Kelly Rowland, Andrew Rannells, Justin Bartha, Chaz Bono, Wilson Cruz, Logan Lerman, Ellen Pompeo, Eric Dane, Beth Ditto, Trevor Donovan, Kirsten Dunst, Chris Evans and his gay brother Scott Evans, Elle Fanning, Joshua Jackson, Tobey Maguire, Alex Pettyfer, Teri Polo, Molly Shannon, Matt Dallas and Betty White. You can take a look at a few of those guests below.
However there has been a bit of controversy, as Bret Easton Ellis has said that he was banned from the event. He was due to attend as the guest of one of those invited, but Ellis tweeted that, “As a gay man in a domestic partnership who plans to get married I’m sad to hear I’ve been banned by Glaad from attending tomorrow’s event… Glaad is supposedly ‘furious’ about my tweets. And I’m guessing not the ones concerning my boyfriend or how sexy I think Adam Driver is.”
GLAAD has responded, with the organisation’s vice president of communications Rich Ferraro telling the Hollywood Reporter, “GLAAD spoke with the guest who was planning to bring Bret about some of Bret’s recent remarks, which the gay community responded negatively to. We also asked for a time to sit down with Bret. They decided to replace Bret with a different guest and there has been no response to the offer of a meeting.”
Ellis has slip opinion with tweets such as comparing watching Glee to “stepping into a puddle of HIV”, and also provoked fury among some for saying that Matt Bomer is ‘too gay’ to play Christian Grey in the film version of 50 Shades Of Grey. It’s not only the LGBT community he’s managed to piss off, as recently he apologised for saying Kathryn Bigelow only won the Best Director Oscar for The Hurt Locker because she’s a ‘hot woman’.
Ellis seems resolutely unimpressed by GLAAD though, making the perhaps salient point, “Bill Clinton signed Doma [Defense of Marriage Act] and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and cheated on Hillary… I dissed Glee and Matt Bomer as Christian Grey. GLAAD: RIGHT ON!”
Take a look below for all the winners from Saturday night’s awards, and a few pics from the event below that.
Advocate for Change Award: Bill Clinton
Stephen F. Kolzak Award: Steve Warren
Outstanding Film – Wide Release: The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Summit Entertainment)
Outstanding Comedy Series: The New Normal (NBC)
Outstanding Individual Episode: “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Me What to Do” Raising Hope (Fox)
Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series: American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
Outstanding Daily Drama: Days of Our Lives (NBC)
Outstanding Talk Show Episode: “At Home with Neil Patrick Harris, His Fiancé David Burtka, & Their Twins” Oprah’s Next Chapter (OWN)
Outstanding Los Angeles Theater: The Children by Michael Elyanow
Spanish Language:
Outstanding Daytime Talk Show Episode: “Confirma su identidad como mujer” Showbiz (CNN en Español)
Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine: TIE: “Los transexuales buscan su identidad en medio de ignorancia y prejuicios” Encuentro (CNN en Español) and “La vida en rosa” Aquí y Ahora (Univision)
Outstanding Newspaper Article: “Gays y padres excelentes” by Pilar Marrero (La Opinión)
If you live in Salt Lake City, Utah and were looking forward to watching next month’s debut of the new sitcom from Glee creator Ryan Murphy, you’re out of luck, as 
Those who been pining for a gay-centred US TV comedy ever since Will & Grace ended (there’s Modern Family and Glee, but they’re not quite the same), will be pleased to hear that Glee creator Ryan Murphy’s new sitcom, The New Normal, has been picked up and will start airing this autumn.