From Comedy Central’s drunken reenactment of the Stonewall riots, to Nickelodeon’s normalizing portrayal of gay parents on kids’ television, to Logo’s feature of oppressed love in war-torn Iraq, Viacom was recently pinned with six GLAAD award nominations for the 28th annual ceremony.
The annual awards strive to, “recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their lives.”
Viacom’s core values of diversity and inclusion align well with GLAAD’s mission, as our networks advocate for LGBT equality both through their programming and via initiatives such as MTV’s Transgender Awareness Week campaign and Logo’s Trailblazer Honors. Several brands united behind the LGBT community in the immediate aftermath of last year’s Orlando nightclub massacre and beyond.
Check out Viacom’s nominees below and click here for a full 2017 GLAAD Media Awards nomination list.
Outstanding Documentary
In an effort to expel stigma and keep LGBT people from discriminating against one another, The Same Difference tells personal stories of the hypocrisy and division that exist in lesbian communities due to expectations and gender roles.
Out of Iraq is the real-life love story of Nayyef Hrebid and Btoo Allami, two soldiers who fell in love in the midst of war. In this documentary, the couple recounts their years spent fleeing persecution and fighting for equality, focusing on the especially harsh discrimination that homosexuality sparks in many African and Middle Eastern countries.
Outstanding Individual Episode
“Bar Fights” Drunk History – Comedy Central
In this Drunk History episode, writer and comedian Crissle West retells the story of the Stonewall riots and its pivotal role in the history of LGBT rights. Trans women of color were at the forefront of these famous riots, and they were the stars in this reenactment too, as Comedy Central cast trans women to portray the story’s influential characters.
“Attention Deficit” – The Loud House – Nickelodeon
This episode of Nickelodeon’s The Loud House is the second time the show features Howard and Harold McBride, the interracial gay parents of main character Lincoln Loud’s best friend, Clyde. In Attention Deficit, the McBride parents play a major role in the series for the first time, further normalizing homosexuality on children’s TV and showing that the idea of the modern family is diverse and free of norms based on sexuality or gender.
Outstanding Talk Show Episode
“Angelica Ross” The Daily Show with Trevor Noah – Comedy Central
The Daily Show welcomes TransTech Social Enterprises founder Angelica Ross as the guest for this episode, as she describes the safe space her organization creates for LGBT workers and the way it strives to educate the cisgender community on trans issues.
Outstanding Film
In this third installment of the Star Trek series reboot, Captain Hikaru Sulu is featured in a scene with his husband and daughter. While the original Star Trek television series and movies did not show Sulu as a gay man, Paramount’s series reboot changed this as actor John Cho portrays the beloved character as openly gay.
The GLAAD Media Awards will take place in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 1, 2017 at 5:30 p.m. and in New York on Saturday, May 6, 2017 at 5:30 p.m. Visit the GLAAD website for more information on LGBT initiatives and the 28th annual award ceremony.