The 28th Annual Glaad Awards, hosted by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, took place on May 6 in New York, a month after their sister ceremony in Los Angeles. The awards recognise the representation of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in the media and whilst the LA event focused on film and television, the New York ceremony was centered more towards digital media.

One of the top honourees of the night was Will & Grace star Debra Messing who took home the GLAAD Excellence in Media Award, becoming one of the latest in a string of celebrities to receive the title including Kelly Ripa, Julianne Moore, and Robert De Niro.

Songwriter and GLAAD board member, Justin Tranter, also auctioned off a writing and recording session for $60,000 on top of the $63,000 he already raised at the Los Angeles ceremony for auctioning off the same opportunity. Tranter, who has written hits for Justin Bieber and Britney Spears said: “We will write a song, we will record the song. If you want to sing it -- you can sing it. If you want me to sing it, I’ll sing it. You will leave with the song fully produced.”

Television

The award for Outstanding Talk Show Episode went to Angelica Ross from the 'Daily Show with Trevor Noah' which saw trans businesswoman and CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises Angelica Ross talk about her company and how it strives to create a safe space for those in the LGBT community.

'Strut,' a show that follows a group of transgender models signed to Slay Model Management, won for Outstanding Reality Program with producer Whoopi Goldberg accepting the award on the show's behalf and the Outstanding Documentary ward went to 'Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four,'directed by Deborah Esquenazi.

The awards for Outstanding TV Journalism Segment and Newsmagazine went to 'Gay Community in U.S. Forged in Fire'by The Rachel Maddow Show and Church and States by VICE on HBO respectively.

Music

Indie pop duo Tegan and Sara won the award for Outstanding Music Artist for their album 'Love You To Death.' The supergroup, who happen to be identical twins and are avid supporters and members of the LGBT community, have released eight albums since their formation in 1995 and were nominated for an Emmy in 2013 for their album 'Get Along.'

Journalism

"Permission to Hate” by Elizabeth Leland for The Charlotte Observer lead the pack in the journalism awards by winning the Outstanding Newspaper Article gong before “HIV Mystery: Solved?” by Tim Murphy for The Nation won for Outstanding Magazine Article.

Vogue's younger sister Teen Vogue was recognised for its reportage of LGBT issues by winning the Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage award whereas the winner of Outstanding Digital Journalism Article went to “After the Orlando Shooting, the Changed Lives of Gay Latinos” by Daniel Wenger for NewYorker.com which described the deadly events of June 9, 2016, when 50 people were killed at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. The ceremony also recognised online blogs and awarded Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, who are committed to "Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the LGBT community by religious conservative organizations", the coveted Outstanding Blog award.

Everything else

Tony Award-winning singer and actor Billy Porter was this year's winner of the Vito Russo Award which recognises those who have made significant progress towards promoting equality for the LGBT community.
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