Last night, teens honored their favorites in pop culture at the annual Teen Choice Awards on Fox, this year hosted by Glee's Darren Criss and Pretty Little Liars' Lucy Hale. Since their creation in 1999, the awards have honored youth-friendly achievements in television, music, film, sports and fashion as voted by teens aged 13 to 19, and this year winners included many LGBT performers and storylines in entertainment.
Comedian, actress and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres picked up the surfboard for Choice Comedian, while out actor Jim Parsons picked up Choice TV Actor: Comedy for his work as Sheldon on CBS' hit The Big Bang Theory. ABC Family's The Fosters scored the title of Choice TV Breakout Show.
Glee won in Choice TV Show: Comedy with show lead Lea Michele winning Choice TV Actress: Comedy. The cast dedicated their wins to the late Cory Monteith and to the fans for their outpouring of support in the wake of his passing.
Pretty Little Liars won the Choice TV Show: Drama and Choice Summer TV Show categories, along with five other wins for the series' stars. Liars airs on ABC Family and features a regular out lesbian teenage character, Emily Fields, and her girlfriend Paige.
On the film side, the film adaptation of the hit novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower picked up honors in Choice Movie: Drama, while college a cappella comedy Pitch Perfect took home Choice Movie: Comedy. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis of "Same Love" fame picked up the surfboard in Choice Hip-Hop/Rap Artist.
GLAAD congratulates this year’s many LGBT-inclusive award recipients, industry professionals and allies whose outstanding work allows the stories of our community to be brought to a wide audience. The inclusive votes cast by 13 to 19-year-olds further reflect the support of the LGBT community among the people who will shape the country’s future.