Los Angeles GLAAD Awards honor Will & Grace, Queer As Folk

The 12th Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards were held Saturday to honor examples in film, television, journalism, music, and theater that promote fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered characters. The Stephen F. Kolzak Award, named for the late casting director who spent the last part of his life fighting homophobia in the entertainment media community, went to writer-director-producer (and Advocate columnist) Paris Barclay (ER, The West Wing). The award honors a gay or lesbian member of the community for work that strives to eliminate homophobia. Billy Elliot took the prize for Outstanding Film in wide release, while The Broken Hearts Club won for Outstanding Film in limited release. Del Shores hit play Southern Baptist Sissies won for Outstanding Los Angeles Theater. From television, the awards went to Will & Grace for Outstanding Comedy Series, Queer As Folk for Outstanding Drama Series, and The Whole Truth episode of Ed for Outstanding Individual Episode. The Los Angeles Times was chosen for Outstanding Newspaper Coverage, while k.d. lang was awarded Outstanding Musical Album for Invincible Summer. Additional GLAAD Media Awards will be presented in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco on May 12 and June 9, respectively. For information on the upcoming events, call (888) 655-6529 or visit the GLAAD Web site at www.glaad.org.