Founded in 1985, GLAAD is a non-profit organization focused on LGBTQ advocacy and cultural change. The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues.
The ceremony powers GLAAD’s work beyond the red carpet, to accelerate LGBTQ acceptance and visibility in media all year round. Since its inception in 1990, the GLAAD Media Awards have become the most visible annual LGBTQ awards. This year’s awards were hosted by Michael Urie and honored the incomparable Cynthia Erivo. The GLAAD Media Awards were hosted at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and featured some of our favorite stars in attendance: Lil Nas X (who was also the presenter of the ‘Outstanding New Artist’ award, MJ Rodriguez, Doechii, Natasha Rothwell, Wayne Brady, Durand Bernarr, R.K. Russell, Raven-Symoné, Lena Waithe, and of course, Cynthia Erivo, who was honored with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award for making a significant difference in raising visibility and promoting the acceptance of LGBTQ people and issues.
However, another breakout star besides Erivo was present this evening, Doechii, who won GLAAD’s Outstanding Music Artist award and received resounding applause from the audience. The artist, humbled, jumped up out of her seat to receive the award, presented by industry colleague Lil Nas X, and while on stage, shared a heartfelt and humble speech, dedicating her speech to her family. “I want to thank God and my family who have been guiding me since the start of my musical journey. I want to thank my little sisters for always supporting my music and for hyping me up, but also keeping it real,” she said.
She continued, “I am honored to be recognized with such a prestigious award by GLAAD and join the prior honorees such as Lady Gaga, Lil Nas X, and Janelle Monae. This is also a huge and special moment because GLAD is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, which is super fab. This organization was founded on the principles of acceptance, inclusiveness and empowerment, and those are the same things that I strongly believe in and advocate for and that continue to propel me forward, especially now that hard won cultural change and rights for transgender people in The LGBTQ community have been threatened, and I’m disgusted. But I want to say that we are here and we are not going anywhere.”
To close out her speech, she shared her gratitude for the organization and encouraged other hopeful artists to continue pursuing their dreams. “The support and the love that I’m feeling as I accept this award from GLAAD is truly overwhelming and uplifting, and as I move forward in my life and career, enabling it’s also a beacon to other aspiring artists to not let anyone ever block your dreams. So I just want to encourage you guys to stay connected with one another. Stay passionate. Stay focused. Keep your chin up. Be kind and be fab,” she stated to the audience.
The focal point of the evening was of course, Cynthia Erivo, who recently came off a hectic awards season, as she was nominated for an OSCAR, Golden Globe, NAACP Award, and SAG Award for her role as Elphaba in the award-winning film, WICKED. She happily accepted the Stephen F. Kolzak Award for her tireless work of advocacy in the LGBTQ+ community. She gave all her thanks to her community during her acceptance speech. “More than anything that I have seen and felt, how open-armed my community has been. I have spoken about being your whole self and your true self. I speak about the prizes from being you against the alts, but rarely do I acknowledge how hard that can be. So I thought that I would make some room for those of us who are trying to find the courage to exist as we want, because I think this is the space to do that. It isn’t easy. None of it is. Waking up and choosing to be yourself, proclaiming a space belongs to you when you don’t feel welcomed, teaching people on a daily basis how to address you, and dealing with the frustration of re-teaching people a word that has been in the human vocabulary since the dawn of time,” she stated.
Erivo continued, “It isn’t easy to ask people to treat you with dignity, since you should just have it, because it’s a given. It isn’t easy to learn to grow who you are. If the world around you is knocking at your door, telling you to stay inside. Some flowers bloom against all the odds, like the peony, but most flowers need to be tended to and cared for before they brave the light and open up their petals to the sun. Here in this room, we’ve all been the recipients of a gift that is the opportunity to be more. I doubt that it has come easy to any of us, but more for some, the road has not been one paved with yellow bricks and instead paved with glass pot holes, whichever road you have traveled, how beautiful it is that you’ve had a road to travel on at all.”
Erivo closed her speech with a powerful dedication to those feeling lost and uncertain in their journeys. “I know that this event is to celebrate the work that we do, and I am endlessly grateful for this honor and the celebration of this the real work is making the ground we leave in our way level enough for the next person who finds their way to take part. For the person who is searching and searching and has not found it yet. This room is full of people who can and will, if they choose, and I hope they will, because I do, to be lanterns to light up your journey and your path on a way to showing the world who you are. We use the phrase “out and proud,” though you might not have had the strength or capacity to do that, know that I am proud of your quiet and solitary. We all want to be just be visible. We can be seen when we see each other. I see you. Think of those who have not been seen. Think of those who sit in the dark and wait for their time, hoping and waiting for a light to light their path. I ask every single one of you in this room, with the spaces that you’re in and the lights that you hold to point it in the direction of someone who just needs a little guidance.”
You can watch the 36th Annual GLAAD Awards exclusively on Hulu on April 12th.
