This past Saturday, Shay Mitchell, Ian Harding and Ashley Benson of Pretty Little Liars presented the award for the Outstanding Daily Drama category at the 23rd annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco. Chandler Massey and Freddie Smith who portray Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis, the two openly gay characters on Days of Our Lives accepted the award on behalf of the NBC soap.
“Hopefully sometime soon […] playing a gay character on a soap opera will be kind of a non-event,” said Chandler Massey. “Well maybe not like a complete non-event but it will be as big of a deal as, I don’t know, faking your own death, or getting possessed by the devil, or finding out you’re a robot, or something like that.”
Watch the two actors’ remarks below.
Mitchell, Harding, Benson, Massey and Smith joined host Dianna Agron (Glee); Rita Moreno (Happily Divorced); Adam Pally (Happy Endings); Kerry Washington, Guillermo Diaz, Katie Lowes (Scandal); Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal); Sean Maher (Much Ado About Nothing); Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, Jack Antonoff (fun.); Jordon Todosey, Annie Clark, Linda Schuyler (Degrassi); Mario Lopez (Extra); MSNBC's Thomas Roberts; People.com editor Janet Mock; John Gidding (Curb Appeal: The Block); author and advocate Zach Wahls; comedians Fortune Feimster and Chris Franjola; and GLAAD President Herndon Graddick.
Guests also enjoyed a performance by Beverly McClellan, a finalist on season one of The Voice, as well as Mystère by Cirque du Soleil.
The GLAAD Media Awards help fund GLAAD’s work to share culture-changing stories that build support for equality.
For a complete list of award recipients, click here. For pictures of the event, click here.
The 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards were presented nationally by Ketel One and Wells Fargo, and presented locally in San Francisco by Southwest Airlines.
Support GLAAD's culture changing work today - learn how! And remember to like GLAAD on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.