ATWT Snubbed by GLAAD Media Awards
Originally published at LoveLure's Luke and Reid Blog. Please leave any comments there.
The GLAAD Media Awards have been held every year since 1990 and 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.
GLAAD, who have take a LOT of flak over the years for their daytime selections, have decided to drop the Daily Drama category entirely from its 2011 GLAAD Media Awards rather than give the award to ATWT who clearly depicted the only material gay storyline on daytime in 2010.
Although they have previously bestowed the award unopposed (to All My Children in 2004) and with only two entrants (multiple times), this year instead, they’ve thrown in the towel.
Guess they got tired of defending their decision to honor the best among a limited choice of half-pregnant efforts. They’ve been burned badly three years in a row - first with backlash for choosing ATWT despite the blatant Nuke kissing/consummation ban, and then embarrassingly for giving the award to OLTL just as Kish was getting the kibbosh (could ABC have timed their announcement any more poorly?!?).
Historically, GLAAD have erred on the side of giving credit for the good things shows have done, acknowledging that change doesn’t come instantaneously. They’ve recognized that it was historically unrealistic to expect realistic depictions of gay relationships right out of the starting gate, and have recognized (baby) steps made by the daytime shows in the right direction.
I was anecdotally familiar with ATWT’s history with the GLAAD Awards, but upon doing some Googling just now, I found what appears to be a more interesting story than I thought - interesting enough to warrant its own separate post.
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