GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, today announced that Grammy Award-winning music superstar Kacey Musgraves will receive the Vanguard Award at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, April 2, 2022.
GLAAD’s Vanguard Award is presented to allies who have made a significant difference in promoting acceptance of LGBTQ people. Previous honorees include Beyoncé and JAY-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Kerry Washington, Cher, Janet Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Patricia Arquette, and Antonio Banderas.
Hosts and Series Producers of the Emmy-nominated HBO series We’re Here, Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara, and DJ “Shangela” Pierce, will host the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles. The 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards are presented by Gilead Sciences, Inc., Hyundai, and Ketel One Family Made Vodka. Delta Air Lines is a Major Sponsor of the events, Sony Music Group is an Official Sponsor, and Comcast NBCUniversal Telemundo is a Titanium Sponsor.
GLAAD also announced that Andrew Garfield will present the Stephen F. Kolzak Award to Michaela Jaé Rodriguez. GLAAD announced Michaela Jaé’s honor last month. The Stephen F. Kolzak Award is presented to a LGBTQ media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting LGBTQ acceptance. Previous Stephen F. Kolzak honorees include Laverne Cox, Jim Parsons, Wanda Sykes, Troye Sivan, Ruby Rose, Chaz Bono, Stephen Warren, Melissa Etheridge, and Sir Ian McKellen.
Special guests for the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Award in Los Angeles will include JoJo Siwa, Jeopardy! Champion Amy Schneider, Jasmin Savoy Brown (Yellowjackets, Scream), Liv Hewson (Yellowjackets, Bombshell), Meredith Marks (Real Housewives of Salt Lake City), Ronen Rubinstein and Rafael Silva (9-1-1-: Lone Star), Nico Santos (Superstore, Crazy Rich Asians), writer and comedian Zeke Smith, and cast members of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
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.
About Kacey Musgraves’ Vanguard Award
“From speaking out against anti-LGBTQ legislation in her home state of Texas, to raising awareness about bullying affecting LGBTQ youth, to uplifting the work of LGBTQ artists, Kacey continues to raise the bar for what it means to be an authentic ally and to inspire her fans to do the same,” said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis.
Kacey Musgraves has used her platform to loudly speak out in support of the LGBTQ community and advance conversations about LGBTQ acceptance in country music. Most recently, Musgraves joined GLAAD and Equality Texas to raise awareness around anti-LGBTQ bills proposed in the Texas state legislature.
In 2013, Musgraves recorded and co-wrote the single “Follow Your Arrow,” which features the lyrics “make lots of noise, kiss lots of boys, or kiss lots of girls if that’s what you’re into … just follow your arrow wherever it points.” In an interview with Rolling Stone, Musgraves noted that despite her label telling her that she would “go down in flames” for releasing it as a single on country radio, she fought to do so anyways because the message was important to her. “Follow Your Arrow” has since been widely recognized as a LGBTQ anthem. Musgraves performed the song at the 25th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York in 2014, becoming the first ever country artist to perform at the ceremony.
Since then, Musgraves has continued to advocate for the LGBTQ community through her music. Her music video for “Rainbow,” a song off her 2018 Grammy-award winning album Golden Hour, featured a visibly queer young man enduring parental conflict at home due to his sexuality. The Advocate called the music video an “ode to queer youth.” Throughout her career, Musgraves has collaborated with multiple LGBTQ artists, most notably Troye Sivan, with whom she has released two tracks, “Glittery” and “Easy,” and MUNA and King Princess, who joined Musgraves for her 2022 star-crossed: unveiled tour. star-crossed: the film, which she released in conjunction with the 2021 album, features multiple LGBTQ artists and iconography, including RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 winner Symone, Hacks comedian Meg Stalter and music artist Princess Nokia.
Outside of her music, Musgraves has publicly voiced her support for LGBTQ rights and equality and spoke out against anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country. In 2017, Musgraves authored a love letter to the LGBTQ community on behalf of Billboard’s Pride Month campaign. In the letter, she writes: “To my friends in the LGBTQ community: thank you. While the career stuff is great, it’s fleeting. You changed me as a human.” On the lack of LGBTQ acceptance in country music, Musgraves stated, at the time: “That has always really pissed me off. Because I love the genre so much, I felt, ‘Well fine, maybe I’ll just have an all-gay audience.’” Musgraves also appeared as a guest judge on season 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, and later invited the winners of the season – Monét X Change and Trinity the Tuck – to join her onstage for her disco-country hit “High Horse” during the Los Angeles stop of her Oh, What a World Tour. In 2019, in honor of GLAAD’s annual Spirit Day, the world’s largest LGBTQ anti-bullying campaign, Musgraves partnered with GLAAD on a contest to give fans a chance to win VIP tickets to her concert and meet her backstage, which also helped to raise funds for the organization.
