Vampires and comedy writers took top honors at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards in New York Saturday. HBO’s supernatural hit True Blood won for Outstanding Drama Series. The show features a few gay characters — some are human (Nelsan Ellis’ Lafayette) and others are vampires, like Russell Edgington, the vampire king of Mississippi. Denis O’Hare, who plays Russell, was on hand to accept the award.
30 Rock creator Tina Fey accepted the award for her NBC sitcom, which won the Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a regular LGBT character) category. In the Season 4 episode Klaus & Greta, Liz Lemon (Fey) accidentally outs her cousin Randy (Jeffrey Self) during a visit home, so he packs up and moves in with her temporarily. The episode also featured a guest-starring role by James Franco, who spoofed himself. Other winners included singer Ricky Martin, who nabbed the Vito Russo Award and Russell Simmons, who took home the Excellence in Media Award.
Ricky Martin also helped Oprah Winfrey win a GLAAD award for an episode of her talk show that focused on his coming out. Over on CNN, Anderson Cooper 360′s feature on “Gay Teen Suicides” won for Outstanding TV Journalism. For the full list of winners, check out GLAAD’s website. Additional awards will be presented in Los Angeles on April 10 and in San Francisco on May 14.
