GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, today announced the nominees for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13 finalist Gottmik announced nominees in select GLAAD Media Awards categories live via GLAAD’s TikTok channel.
The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues. Since its inception in 1990, the GLAAD Media Awards have grown to be the most visible annual LGBTQ awards show in the world, sending powerful messages of acceptance to audiences globally. The 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards are presented by Gilead Sciences, Inc. and Ketel One Family Made Vodka.
The 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards nominees were published, released, or broadcast between January 1 and December 31, 2021. The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies, which fund GLAAD’s work to accelerate LGBTQ acceptance, will be held in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, April 2, 2022 and in New York at the Hilton Midtown on Friday, May 6, 2022.
“Media can create positive change and this year’s nominees represent powerful projects, stories, and creators that positively shifted culture and enlightened audiences with new and impactful LGBTQ stories,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “There are more nominees this year than ever before, highlighting a growing landscape of LGBTQ visibility, and serving as a reminder to the critical role that film, television, music, journalism, and other forms of media can play in growing LGBTQ acceptance in the face of ongoing attacks against our community.”
Streaming services saw a total of 63 nominees, with cable receiving 39 nominations, and broadcast networks receiving 17 nominations. HBO/HBO Max scored the most nominations of any network with a total of 19 nominees, followed by Netflix with 17 nominees. Hulu received 7 nominations, while ABC, MSNBC, and Peacock all received 4 nominations. In the Spanish-language categories, Univision and Telemundo both received two nominations.
During a year when anti-transgender violence rose and lawmakers across the U.S. introduced an unprecedented number of bills attempting to stop transgender youth from participating in sports and accessing gender-affirming healthcare, many of the nominees at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards centered transgender people and issues in timely, nuanced, and empowering ways. Of the 30 television shows nominated across Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Drama Series, and Outstanding New TV Series, 18 feature trans and/or nonbinary characters, including: Pose, 9-1-1: Lone Star, The Chi, Good Trouble, Grey’s Anatomy, The L Word: Generation Q, Star Trek: Discovery, Supergirl, Gentefied, Saved by the Bell, Sex Education, Shrill, Work in Progress, 4400, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Sort Of, With Love, and Y: The Last Man. Other nominated shows and films featuring trans and/or nonbinary people or characters include: West Side Story, Changing the Game, Pier Kids, Gossamer Folds, Port Authority, The Lady and The Dale, No Ordinary Man, Pride, Nash Bridges, Rurangi, I Am Jazz, Legendary, MTV’s Following: Bretman Rock, Queer Eye, RuPaul’s Drag Race, The Voice, We’re Here, Ridley Jones, “Whatever Floats Your Float” Madagascar: A Little Wild, City of Ghosts, “Manlee Men” Danger Force, Pequeñas Victorias, and Todo lo otro.
A large number of nominees at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards also include powerful and impactful stories about LGBTQ people of color. In the film and television categories, those nominees include: Eternals, tick, tick… BOOM!, Breaking Fast, Gossamer Folds, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, Plan B, Port Authority, Tu Me Manques, Twilight’s Kiss, Changing the Game, Cured, Flee, The Legend of the Underground, No Ordinary Man, Pier Kids, Pride, Gentefied, Love, Victor, Saved by the Bell, Sex Education, Shrill, Twenties, Work in Progress, 9-1-1: Lone Star, Batwoman, The Chi, Good Trouble, The L Word: Generation Q, Pose, Star Trek: Discovery, 4400, Hacks, Harlem, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Sort Of, With Love, Y: The Last Man, Yellowjackets, The Fear Street Triology, Single All The Way, Under the Christmas Tree, Dopesick, Halston, It’s A Sin, Little Birds, Love Life, Master of None Presents: Moments in Love, Rurangi, 12 Dates of Christmas, Family Karma, I Am Jazz, Legendary, MTV’s Following: Bretman Rock, RuPaul’s Drag Race, We’re Here, Doogie Kamealoha, MD, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, The Owl House, Amphibia, among others.
GLAAD announced 246 nominees in 30 categories, including two new categories: Outstanding New TV Series and Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology. As LGBTQ representation continues to expand across television and streaming, the Outstanding New TV Series recognizes scripted comedy or drama series in their first season that include impactful LGBTQ stories. The Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology category recognizes an original graphic novel or an anthology of short stories appearing in the same book released by a mainstream publisher and its subsidiary labels.
“After decades of LGBTQ characters being excluded, sidelined, or misrepresented on television, it is incredibly powerful to see how many series introduced fresh, impactful, and fully developed LGBTQ characters and storylines in their first season, many of which were some of the most beloved shows of the year,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “The introduction of the Outstanding New TV Series category recognizes the shows and creators getting LGBTQ inclusion right from the beginning, and encourages other showrunners to include LGBTQ characters and stories that enlighten and entertain in new projects.”
Each year, GLAAD presents non-competitive Special Recognition Awards to media projects that do not fit into one of the existing GLAAD Media Awards categories. For the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards, GLAAD is presenting Special Recognition honors to eight media projects that spotlighted diverse segments of the LGBTQ community in innovative ways. The eight media projects include: All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson [filmed reading + performance]; “Alok Vaid-Menon” 4D with Demi Lovato (Cadence13/OBB Sound/SB Projects); CODED: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker (Paramount+); Jeopardy! Champion Amy Schneider; The Laverne Cox Show (Shondaland Audio/iHeartMedia); Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson (ABC News); Outsports’ Coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics; and “Celebrando el Mes del Orgullo” (Telemundo).
GLAAD’s Barbara Gittings Award for Excellence in LGBTQ Media honors a pioneering individual, group, or community media outlet that has made a significant contribution to the development of LGBTQ media. The award is named after Barbara Gittings in recognition of her groundbreaking work as editor of The Ladder, and for her appearances as an out lesbian on national news media throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
This year’s recipient of the Barbara Gittings Award for Excellence in LGBTQ Media is Franco Stevens, a pioneering lesbian journalist and founding publisher of Curve Magazine, one of the world’s leading lesbian lifestyle magazines. Launched as Deneuve in 1990, Curve Magazine has been pivotal in bringing mainstream attention to the lives and issues of the lesbian community at a time when both visibility and acceptance were extremely low, ultimately allowing many lesbians and queer women to feel seen and find community. After re-acquiring Curve Magazine in 2021, Stevens launched The Curve Foundation, a non-profit organization created to empower lesbians, queer women, trans and nonbinary people of all races, ages, and abilities to share stories, connect, and raise visibility. Franco Stevens’ legacy is spotlighted in the recent Starz documentary Ahead of the Curve, which takes an in-depth look at Stevens’ journey from launching Curve Magazine to The Curve Foundation, and her ongoing impact on the growing landscape for lesbian visibility and acceptance over the past 30 years. Stevens also previously served on GLAAD’s Board of Directors, helping to drive the organization’s mission of LGBTQ acceptance forward.
Last year, the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards went virtual for the second time, hosted by actress and producer Niecy Nash. The ceremony featured special performances from CHIKA, Rebecca Black, Jessica Betts, and Sabrina Carpenter. Among award recipients included Disclosure, Schitt’s Creek, Sam Smith, CHIKA, Happiest Season, I May Destroy You, Star Trek: Discovery, The Boys In The Band, Veneno, We’re Here, The Not-Too-Late Show With Elmo, and more.
GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis serves as Executive Producer of the GLAAD Media Awards, alongside GLAAD staff Rich Ferraro and Anthony Allen Ramos. Spencer Harvey will serve as Producer, Juana Guichardo will serve as Associate Producer, and Wendy Shanker will serve as Headwriter.
The 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards are presented by Gilead Sciences, Inc. and Ketel One Family Made Vodka. For more information on how to become a corporate partner, please visit www.glaad.org/mediaawards. To purchase tickets for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards, please visit: www.glaad.org/mediaawards/tickets.
