GLAAD Honors âPhiladelphia,â âAnd the Band Played Onâ : Awards: The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation also recognizes NBCâs âSeinfeldâ for its âcontinued inclusion of gay and lesbian characters.â
Hollywoodâs inconsistent track record in portraying gay and lesbian characters on the big screen is reflected in the 1993 Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation media awards announced Monday.
âThere wasnât any (feature film) award given for 1992,â said GLAADâs Los Angeles executive director Lee Werbel, âbecause there were no positive feature films.â
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Feb. 3, 1994 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday February 3, 1994 Home Edition Calendar Part F Page 3 Column 4 Entertainment Desk 2 inches; 46 words Type of Material: Correction
Media awards-- Because of inaccurate information supplied to The Times, an article in Tuesdayâs Calendar section on media awards given by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation misidentified the producer of the honored program in the television journalism category. âGays in the â90sâ was produced by WNBC New York.
But this year the honor goes to âPhiladelphia,â director Jonathan Demmeâs film about a gay attorney with AIDS who is fired from his job. The TriStar Pictures release is the first major American feature film to deal directly with the 10-year-old AIDS epidemic. GLAAD said the film âbrings a message of compassion and understanding about gay men and AIDS.â
The TV sitcom âSeinfeld,â HBOâs made for television film âAnd the Band Played On,â Tony Kushnerâs stage drama âAngels in Americaâ and recording artist Melissa Etheridge also will take home awards from the March 19 banquet in Los Angeles underwritten by the David Geffen Foundation. The awards are voted by the membership of GLAADâs national affiliates.
NBCâs âSeinfeldâ is cited for its âcontinued inclusion of gay and lesbian characters.â HBOâs production of author Randy Shiltsâ âAnd the Band Played Onâ was credited for chronicling the first decade of AIDS, and Etheridge was honored for acknowledging she is lesbian and, in doing so, helping to âeliminate stereotypes.â
In terms of sheer âvisibility,â as the category is labeled, GLAADâs winner is playwright Harvey Fierstein, for his overall contributions to increasing the visibility of gays and lesbians in the media.
Independent film winners: Samuel Goldwyn Co.âs release of âThe Wedding Banquetâ and the New York-based Women Make Movies release of âForbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives.â
Other TV winners: âSistersâ for an ongoing lesbian character; âLaw and Orderâ for an episode dealing with homophobia in the field of law enforcement; and the CBS afterschool special âOther Mothers.â
Other winners: community service, Highways Performance Space; advertising, Kenneth Cole; TV journalism, Maria Shriverâs report on âGays in the â90sâ; magazine journalism, Farai Chideya for a Spin magazine article on homophobia in the recording business; Deb Price of the Detroit News, the first nationally syndicated openly lesbian columnist; and a special award honoring MTV.
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