GLAAD is hosting a march against LGBT violence in honor of Mark Carson, the 32-year-old gay man murdered in the West Village this week.

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Via Sticky (Work Unfriendly): Marco Antônio Arcoverde Cals for H Magazine.

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Herndon Graddick resigns as GLAAD director after a year.

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President Obama is squeaky-clean, conservatives can't get over it. 

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Colin Egglesfield is attractive.

Sentences can end in prepositions.

Beating up on gays via court, and more literally.

New gay dads (my pals) Matt & Josh meet their new twins:

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Jinkx Monsoon sings "The Drag Queens Who Lunch" at the 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco...

I'm such a Phyllistine

Saturday was the GLAAD Media Awards in L.A. It's been four days, but keep in mind I had to travel and work in-between!

I like GLAAD. I support the work it does. I think all of the awareness it raises is invaluable, let alone the training it offers to newly-minted gay heroes and heroines and the hell it gives people and organizations who insist on defaming the LGBT community. There's nothing wrong with throwing a party to have fun and raise money and garner attention, even if the awards being handed out are certainly up for debate. I love Bill Clinton, but I'm not sure he truly deserves an award for his leadership on gay issues. I've never doubted he is pro-gay, but I'm not sure he's actually led with his gut. Not saying he should be tarred and feathered—he's done lots of good—but I am on the fence as to whether GLAAD should be awarding him anything.

Simon Halls, Matt Bomer, Rumer Willis & Jayson Blair: Power quadruple

All that said, the event was held at the J.W. Marriott, which sounds like someone who would be starring in Kansas City Trucking Co. (1976) or some other pre-condom (as opposed to bareback) classique. The carpet was wide open and there really weren't that many media types on my side of it. Considering the scores of stars I snagged last year in L.A., I thought this was a good omen.

I was next to Autostraddle (I always am; they're cool) and the adorbs (the word suits him) Matthew Rodrigues, an on-camera host for Pop Sugar. I said, "I'm Matthew." He said, "I'm Matthew." I said, "I was Matthew first." He agreed a little too quickly, which instantly gave rise to a boner of contention; I had a hard-on for teasing him about it.

Chaz gave one interview on our end of the carpet—to Ms. Damiana Garcia

No matter; it wasn't even a real faux pas as I am clearly old enough to be his dad, which he denied, guessing me at 34. His straight camera guy went lower. At this point I was selling all my shares in Botox since I've never touched the stuff.

Video courtesy of Yann Perrigault

A truly annoying piece on HuffPo takes it upon itself to apologize for Madonna and GLAAD's "flamboyant" statement against the Boy Scouts. As I wrote on the site and to the author on Twitter, I don't believe activists get anywhere by coddling, wringing our hands and expressing disappointment. I'm offended by the concept of approaching a sworn enemy (as the Scouts' decision-makers are) with an apology and I think the entire GLAAD appearance, while pointed, was really very funny. Madonna's ridiculous get-up tweaked the Scouts and was a great way to mock just how silly their policy really is.

Worse than silly, it's discriminatory, and it's a policy they've had ample opportunity to reconsider in recent decades. Their clear-eyed decision to keep going with it (for now) makes the Boy Scouts absolutely equal to a restricted country club, so they should be mocked and shamed, not the activist-minded Madonna and GLAAD, who are, after all, on the right side of history.

ANYway, I'm sure the author was well-intentioned, but I really think his piece gives aid and succor to an enemy. And until they change their policy, they are an enemy.

As an antidote, check out the cute backstage video above, in which the face of the battle vs. the Scouts—lesbian mom Jennifer Tyrrell—humbly thanks Madonna for "doing that," to which Madonna says, "My pleasure."

Here is Jennifer from the carpet that evening, before her emotional speech from the stage:

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Download Video as MP4

 

Download Video as MP4

 

More after the jump...

Bernadette Peters

Andy Mientus, Smash

Avan Jogia, StraightButNotNarrow.org

Amazing Race winners Brent Ridge & Josh Kilmer-Purcell

Countess LuAnn de Lesseps

Jake Shears

More after the jump...

Oh, den mother, why aren't you here with me?

The 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards—full list of winners here—were a mish-mash of political activism, back-slapping, genuinely emotional moments largely tied to the venerable org's new push for transgender rights and—oh, yeah!—a Madonna/Anderson Cooper one-two punch that was an instant-classic appearance for Madonna (even if the evening was to honor Coop).

Keep reading for a full report, pictures and videos...

I don't argue that Dee was a hero, but the Post's writing seems to argue she wasn't a human being

GLAAD has refused a press-credential request from the New York Post, citing such recent Post headlines as:

"Fire kills tranny in dairy den"

I don't believe, as GLAAD does, that the word "tranny" is as universally insulting as the N-word. Plenty of transgender folks and drag queens ("drag queen" sounds like a term that will be considered offensive in a few years) use the word freely, and not just in the "reclaiming a hateful word" way that we have seen with black people using the N-word of gay people using "faggot."

However, the context is unmistakably dehumanizing and contemptuous when the Post—whose anti-gay coverage of AIDS in the '80s spawned GLAAD in the first place—uses "tranny" (and "she-male") in headlines to sensationalize and make light of stories about rape and assault and murder.

Reading the headline I highlighted above absolutely reminded me of the anti-gay coverage of Stonewall in the '60s, and especially of the heartless news coverage of the infamous Upstairs Lounge fire. Back then, when 29 gay people were burned alive,  The media was as anti-gay as the populace back then.

The Post is still publishing in the past, and, for all of its arguable flaws, GLAAD is trying to push the media into the present. I think GLAAD's decision is appropriate and I applaud them for making it.

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Win a trip to the GLAAD Awards.

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"Every Sunday night, this girl wo uld come to my house and I would stand in my garage and I would hike my boxer briefs up into the crack of my ass and she would give me a spray tan."—Matt Damon, on playing Scott Thorson