Today, GLAAD announced the nominees for its 26thAnnual GLAAD Media Awards. Several nominees share the stories of people living in the U.S. South and in rural areas around the country.
The Showtime documentary L Word Mississippi: Hate the Sin profiles several lesbian couples and one transgender man in Mississippi. Fuse's Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce is set in New Orleans, while R&B Divas: Atlanta on TV One included the wedding of Monifah Carter and Terez Thorpe, two African American women living in Atlanta. Nominated for Outstanding Music Artist, Mary Gauthier is an out country music artist who performs at the Grand Ole Opry. Her album Trouble & Love was also named one of the top 40 country music albums of 2014 by Rolling Stone magazine.
In a story called "Fired for Being Gay?" MSNBC profiled Crystal Moore, a police chief in South Carolina who was fired for being a lesbian, but re-hired when her small town rallied around her. Guest host Jonathan Capehart led a discussion about LGBT equality coming to the south on Melissa Harris-Perry. On CNN, Lisa Ling took at look at LGBT people finding community on the gay rodeo circuit. In the Outstanding Newspaper Article category, The Wichita Eagle ran a story about Matthew Vines and his family's decision to leave their conservative church when Matthew came out as gay. The Salt Lake City Tribune and The Arizona Republic both ran stories about LGBT people in those states fighting for equality.
Earlier this year, GLAAD launched a Southern Stories initiative. LGBT people in the U.S. South, perhaps more than anywhere else in the country, live with the everyday realities of a culture gap – the discrepancy between the march to legal equality and the American people's level of comfort with their LGBT neighbors. A cultural shift toward LGBT acceptance and understanding in the South is imperative. Americans' attitudes and behavior regarding LGBT equality are not just influenced by what they see and hear, but who they know. GLAAD's Southern Stories initiative tells the stories of LGBT people and their allies in the South to help create that cultural shift.
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.