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T. R. Knight to Open Show, Tennis Legend Martina Navratilova to Receive Stephen F. Kolzak Award
Los Angeles, Tuesday, April 3, 2007 – The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) announced today that acclaimed actress Jennifer Aniston will receive the Vanguard Award for her contributions to increased visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. GLAAD previously announced that tennis legend and activist Martina Navratilova will receive the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, which will be presented by openly gay former 'N Sync member Lance Bass. Grey's Anatomy actor T. R. Knight will open the show.
The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor mainstream media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives and will be held in Los Angeles on April 14, 2007 at the Kodak Theatre.
Additional ceremonies will be held in San Francisco on April 28 at the Westin St. Francis, and in South Florida on May 10 at the JW Marriott Miami. Additional Special Honorees for San Francisco and South Florida will be named at a later date.
Guests scheduled to attend the Los Angeles event include: Katherine Heigl; Eva Mendes; America Ferrera, Rebecca Romijn, and Judith Light (Ugly Betty); Rachel Griffiths, Matthew Rhys, and Jason Lewis (Brothers and Sisters); Garry Marshall; Neil Patrick Harris; Sarah Paulson (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip); Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica); former NBA player John Amaechi; and GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano. More names to be announced.
The year's first GLAAD Media Awards ceremony was held in New York on March 26, 2007 at the Marriott Marquis. At the ceremony, Jennifer Hudson presented the Excellence in Media Award to singer Patti LaBelle; Julianne Moore presented the Vito Russo Award to fashion icon Tom Ford; and Cynthia Nixon presented the Pioneer Award to comedian and writer Kate Clinton. Also in attendance were Rosie O'Donnell, Whoopi Goldberg, John Waters, Hilary Duff, and Tim Gunn.
For the third consecutive year, the GLAAD Media Awards will be televised on Logo, MTV Networks' cable channel for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender viewers and their allies. The Logo airdate for the GLAAD Media Awards is April 21, 2007.
In January, GLAAD announced 122 nominees in 26 English-language categories, and 61 Spanish-language nominees in 16 categories. Award recipients in the following categories will be announced onstage at the Los Angeles event:
- Outstanding Film–Wide Release (Little Miss Sunshine, The Night Listener, Running with Scissors, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, V for Vendetta)
- Outstanding Drama Series (Brothers and Sisters, The L Word, Hex, The Sopranos, South of Nowhere)
- Outstanding Comedy Series (Desperate Housewives, The Office, So NoTORIous, Ugly Betty)
- Outstanding Individual Episode ("Blind Date" 30 Rock, "Forever Blue" Cold Case, "Lincoln Lover" American Dad, "Single Stamina" How I Met Your Mother, "Where the Boys Are" Grey's Anatomy)
- Outstanding Spanish-Language Newspaper Overall Coverage (El Diario la Prensa [New York], El Nuevo Día [Puerto Rico], Hoy [New York], La Opinión [Los Angeles], La Raza [Chicago])
A complete list of this year's 183 nominees and print-quality photos of selected nominees and honorees are available at: http://www.glaad.org/mediaawards. This year, more than 5,000 people will attend the GLAAD Media Awards in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and South Florida, raising more than $3.7 million for the organization's work.
More than 100 corporate sponsors are showing their support, including Founding Sponsor ABSOLUT VODKA, which is returning to the GLAAD Media Awards for the 18th consecutive year. GLAAD is also grateful to the event's Platinum Underwriter Sponsors IBM and Time Warner. Allstate Insurance Company, American Airlines, Atlantis Events, Bud Light, Coors Brewing Company, Harrah's Foundation, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Lehman Brothers, Motorola, The Olivia Companies, Starbucks Coffee Company and Wells Fargo support the GLAAD Media Awards as Underwriter Sponsors. For a full list of corporate sponsors or information on how to become a corporate sponsor, purchase tickets or a tribute journal ad, please visit www.glaad.org/mediaawards or contact Stamp Event Management at (877) 519-7904 or glaad@stampeventco.com.
About GLAAD
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org.
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Bios of Special Honorees
18th ANNUAL GLAAD MEDIA AWARDS
SPECIAL HONOREES
IN LOS ANGELES
Jennifer Aniston
Vanguard Award
Jennifer Aniston is, without a doubt, one of the most charismatic, talented, and celebrated actresses in the world today. It is all the more refreshing then, that she hasn't shied away from roles that playfully or dramatically explore the boundaries of human sexuality and relationships. For ten seasons, Jennifer Aniston played Rachel Green on Friends, a show that included, from its very first season, a portrayal of a lesbian family. In addition to her role on Friends, Aniston starred in The Object of My Affection with Paul Rudd, again telling a story of an alternative family. With her gay-friendly roles in other projects, such as the film Rockstar, the FX drama Dirt, and a music video for Melissa Etheridge, Jennifer Aniston has proven herself a strong ally of the LGBT community.
The Vanguard Award is presented to media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Past recipients include Charlize Theron, Antonio Banderas, Eric McCormack, Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli, and Whoopi Goldberg.
Martina Navratilova
Stephen F. Kolzak Award
Arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, Martina Navratilova became one of the first professional sports figures to come out in 1981, at the height of her legendary singles career. Born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Navratilova emigrated to the United States in 1975 to pursue her professional dreams in an atmosphere of freedom. She has won a record 167 career singles titles and 178 career doubles titles, including 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 41 Grand Slam doubles titles, and a record 9 Wimbledon women's singles titles. Throughout her career, which ended in 2006, Navratilova has also worked tirelessly on behalf of LGBT rights, including addressing the historic 1993 March on Washington which inspired her to create the Rainbow Card. The Rainbow Card is an affinity credit card which allows users to donate to the LGBT community simply by using a credit card. To date the program has raised more than 2 million dollars for LGBT non-sprofit organizations.
The Stephen F. Kolzak Award is named after a highly successful Los Angeles casting director who devoted the last part of his life to fighting AIDS-phobia and homophobia in the entertainment industry. The award is presented to an openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for our community. Previous Stephen F. Kolzak honorees include Melissa Etheridge, Bill Condon, Todd Haynes, Alan Ball, Ellen DeGeneres, and Sir Ian McKellen.
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