GLAAD Media Awards 2015 Honors Kelly Ripa, Thomas Roberts, Sports Illustrated – The Hollywood Reporter

“If the world is a cafeteria, we’re the closest we’ve ever been to sitting at the cool kids’ table — screw that, we are the cool kids’ table!” shouted host Ross Matthews at Saturday night’s GLAAD Media Awards, an evening that honored those producing fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBT news.

At the Waldorf Astoria New York, Anderson Cooper presented the Excellence in Media Award to advocate Kelly Ripa, who produces Logo’s Secret Guide to Fabulous and is, according to Cooper, “a morning show host who is gleefully recounting a Saturday night dancing in a gay club — even the gay ones don’t do that!”

Many media outlets are just learning how to cover the community’s news responsibly. “Things are changing rapidly, and if I were a reporter, I wouldn’t mess around because of public opinion — you can’t get away with ignorance and nonsense now,” Jeffrey Tambor told The Hollywood Reporter. “If you’re in media right now, you gotta have your heart and your intelligence in the right place, or you will perish. Because the millennials, they’re smart and they won’t let you get away with it.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s Tituss Burgess also noted, “What’s annoying is we’re talking about it as if it’s something new! Stop making it a ‘special story’ and just write about it all the time, like you write about who’s wearing what.” And Ross Matthews admitted he “rolls his eyes” when the gay community is solely described as “flamboyant” and visually represented with the more outlandish images from Pride celebrations.

Specifically of trans stories, Laverne Cox told THR that she disdains when outlets zoom in on people’s surgeries, “because that keeps us from focusing on the humanity and lived experiences of us beyond our bodies, and often becomes the only takeaway — that annoys me. … Our stories are valuable, and covering them responsibly can save lives.”

Plus, “there are many ways of being trans — not everyone who comes out is an expert on transgender identity, and often they get microphones shoved in their faces. We should avoid making people who happen to be trans into media stars,” warned GLAAD national board chair Jenny Boylan. And GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis noted the confusion of pronouns, especially when reporting on the recent murders within the transgender community. “In the news, they’re misgendered. so it’s like a final piece of disrespect to that person. We’re trying to make sure they’re still respected after they pass away.”

Still, Judith Light praised Bruce Jenner, as well as his publicists, Diane Sawyer and the interview’s producers for the exemplary coverage of the community: “It was a teachable moment and it’s going to become a reference point for a long time.”

The evening also included a standing ovation for shooting survivor Kristene Chapa, a surprise appearance by Empire’s Jussie Smollett, a Ty Herndon performance and Jonathan Groff’s spontaneous attempt to imitate Burgess’ “Peeno Noir” success with a “Chardonnay” song: “Beyonce, Rihanna — nay, Tituss works for Tina Fey, and Tituss is a great f—ing lay.”