Today, GLAAD announced the nominees for its 26th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. This year, the Time magazine cover story titled "The Transgender Tipping Point" received a nomination for Outstanding Magazine Article, and given the other numerous stories about transgender people receiving nominations this year, it would seem the headline was accurate.
The nominees include Transparent, the Golden Globe Award-winning series from Amazon Instant Video, which included several out trans actors in the cast. This year, The Fosters introduced a recurring trans character named Cole, played by out actor Tom Phelan. Orange Is the New Black continued to include Sophia, played by out actress Laverne Cox. Orphan Black introduced another new clone, but Tony was a transgender man. The Drop Dead Diva episode "Identity Crisis" focused on a young trans boy whose school would not allow him to use the same bathroom as the other boys.
Nominated documentaries with trans people include: True Trans with Laura Jane Grace, which focuses the Against Me! front woman as she travels the country with her band meeting a diverse group of trans people; Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word which profiles several transgender youth from across the country; and L Word Mississippi: Hate the Sin which includes a transgender man living in Mississippi. Against Me! also received a nomination for Outstanding Music Artist for their album Transgender Dysphoria Blues.
Dragon Age: Inquisition, the big-budget videogame from Electronic Arts and BioWare, received a Special Recognition award for the many complex and unique LGBT characters prominently integrated throughout the game. Those characters included Krem, a transgender man who is also a fierce warrior. GLAAD's Special Recognition awards are typically given to outstanding media projects for which there is not a competitive category.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver earned a nomination in the Outstanding Talk Show Episode category for the interview with Pepe Julian Onziema, a transgender man from Uganda. As did the talk show Katie for the episode "Issues Facing the Transgender Community." Early in 2014, the same show was criticized for asking invasive questions about surgery in an interview with Carmen Carrera and Laverne Cox. Learning from that experience, the show followed up with this episode which included Laverne Cox talking about her upcoming documentary about CeCe McDonald, as well as trans advocates Chase Strangio and Tiq Milan talking about the real discrimination, poverty, and violence faced by transgender people.
Other journalism nominees include Ronan Farrow Daily for a series of stories on transgender issues, including Landon Wilson discussing the continued ban on transgender people serving openly in the military. Fusion, a network that is a joint venture between the Disney-ABC Television Group and Univision Communications, interviewed transgender model Geena Rocero on Alicia Menendez about Rocero's work to help transgender people from other countries access legal documents that match their gender identity. ABC's weekend news show This Week took a look back at some of the cultural and legislative progress obtained by the trans community, and interviewed Mara Keisling from the National Center for Transgender Equality about how much more work remains to be done.
Online, Fusion published an in-depth feature story, "Why did the US Lock Up These Women with Men?" about transgender Latinas facing discrimination while being held in U.S. immigration detention facilities. Buzzfeed was nominated for an in-depth story about the high rate of violence faced by transgender women of color titled, "A Year Later, 'Nothing' Has Changed Since Transgender Woman Islan Nettles was Killed." Also online, MSNBC filmed a short video, "With Technology I Didn’t Have to Sell My Body," about Angelica Ross, an African American trans woman in Chicago who has created her own company to provide tech training to other transgender people. Miranda Leitsinger profiled several transgender youth living on the streets after being rejected by their families in an article titled "Left Behind: LGBT Homeless Youth Struggle to Survive on the Streets" for NBCNews.com.
Finally, in the Outstanding Blog category, first-time nominee The Art of Transliness is a Tumblr run by two transgender young men who offer resources and advice to other trans men. Autostraddle, a site for women, also has regular transgender contributors who cover issues of interest to transgender women.
For a complete list of nominees, click here or watch the video below.
The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives. The GLAAD Media Awards also fund GLAAD's work to amplify stories from the LGBT community and issues that build support for equality.
The GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies will be held in Los Angeles on March 21, 2015 at The Beverly Hilton and in New York on May 9 at the Waldorf Astoria New York. Find out how you can buy tickets or host a table here.
To receive the latest updates on the GLAAD Media Awards, follow @glaad on Twitter and use the hashtag #glaadawards.
The 26th Annual GLAAD Media Awards corporate partners include: Presenting partners Delta Air Lines, Hilton, Ketel One Vodka, and Wells Fargo. GLAAD is also grateful to: Platinum partners ABC-Disney Television Group, Allstate Insurance Company, PwC, and Time Warner; Gold partners Nielsen; and Silver partners Citi and Omnicom Group. For a full list of corporate partners and information on how to become a corporate partner, purchase tickets, and place a tribute in the tribute book, please visit www.glaad.org/mediaawards.