Honorees included Patti LaBelle, Tom Ford and Kate Clinton, who were presented with, respectively, the Excellence in Media Award, the Vito Russo Award and the Pioneer Award.
LaBelle, whose Broadway credits include Your Arms Too Short to Box with God and Patti LaBelle on Broadway, told the audience, "I am so honored that the gay and lesbian community honors me tonight because I have been with you for 45 years. I don't know why people discriminate against you. I don't know why people can't see you marrying...whatever you want to do, it should be accepted by the world."
The annual awards honor "fair, accurate and inclusive" representations of gay individuals in the media. Among this year's winners were Zsa Zsa Gershick's Bluebonnet Court, which won the Outstanding Los Angeles Theater award; David Johnston's Candy and Dorothy, which won the Outstanding New York Theater: Off-Off Broadway award; and Douglas Carter Beane's The Little Dog Laughed and Kate Moira Ryan and Judy Gold's 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother, which tied for the Outstanding New York Theater: Broadway and Off-Broadway award.
Rosie O'Donnell also picked up the Outstanding Documentary award for HBO's "All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise," which documented the maiden voyage of the RFamilyVacations cruise for gay and lesbian families.
Additional awards will be presented April 14 at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles; April 28 at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco; and May 10 at the JW Marriott in South Florida. For the third consecutive year, the ceremony will be televised. Logo, the new MTV Networks channel, will air the GLAAD Media Awards April 21. For a complete list of nominees and winners, visit www.glaad.org.
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GLAAD is dedicated to promoting fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of individuals and events in all media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.