The 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards took place on April 2, 2022. This year's winner's include HBO Max's Hacks, Marvel Studios' Eternals, Peacock's Saved by the Bell revival, VH1's RuPaul’s Drag Race, and Netflix's Single All the Way. Special Awards also went to Kacey Musgraves received the Vanguard Award from Ben Platt, and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez received the Stephen F. Kolzak Award from Andrew Garfield.
GLAAD is the largest LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization. It was founded as a protest against the New York Post's grossly defamatory coverage of queer people in 1985, but its agenda soon extended to include the entertainment industry. In 1988, GLAAD and several other advocacy organizations worked together to protest biphobia in Midnight Caller. Then, in 1990, the non-profit held its inaugural GLAAD Media Awards to celebrate media and entertainment companies that more positively covered the queer community, with the award for Media Person of the Year going to Phil Donahue for his continued coverage of the LGBTQ+ community.
Since 1991, the Stephen F. Kolzak Special Award has been presented by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation to an LGBT member of the entertainment or media industry who has worked toward eliminating homophobia. People like Sir Ian McKellen and Wanda Sykes have won in past years. Upon acceptance of the award, Rodriguez stated:
I have to thank my mother and father for seeing me and loving me. When a child is loved, whether you are LGBTQIA or not, it makes all the difference. When you tell your queer child that you love them, they think, ‘I love me too.’ I thank all the parents in Texas, Florida, Idaho, Arizona, and around the world who are standing up to fear and ignorance, and grounding their LGBTQIA children in love and acceptance.
The GLAAD Media Awards Winners Are...
2022's GLAAD Media Awards was hosted by Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’ Hara, and D.J. “Shangela” Pierce from Emmy Nominated HBO Series We’re Here, and featured a special performance from Jake Wesley Rogers. Although 16 of the 30 categories were presented at a Los Angeles ceremony on April 2, the event was not streamed live. Instead, it will stream on Hulu on April 16, 2022.
The full list of announced winners thus far can be found below:
- Outstanding New TV Series: Hacks (HBO Max)
- Outstanding Comedy Series: Saved by the Bell (Peacock)
- Outstanding Film - Wide Release: Eternals (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
- Outstanding Reality Program: RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1) and We’re Here (HBO) TIE
- Outstanding Documentary: Changing the Game (Hulu)
- Outstanding TV Movie: Single All The Way (Netflix)
- Outstanding Film - Limited Release: Parallel Mothers (Sony Pictures Classics)
- Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series: It’s A Sin (HBO MAX)
- Outstanding Video Game: Life is Strange: True Colors (Deck Nine Games/Square Enix)
- Outstanding Comic Book: Crush & Lobo (DC Comics)
- Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology: Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms (Oni Press)
- Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage: The Advocate
- Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist: Lily Rose, Stronger Than I Am (Big Loud Records/Back Blocks Music/Republic Records)
- Outstanding Spanish-Language Scripted Television Series: Maricón Perdido (HBO Max)
- Outstanding Spanish-Language TV Journalism: "Orgullo LGBTQ: 52 Años de Lucha y Evolución" (Telemundo 47)
- Special Recognition: All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson [filmed reading + performance]
- Special Recognition: "Alok Vaid-Menon" 4D with Demi Lovato (Cadence13/OBB Sound/SB Projects)
- Special Recognition: CODED: The Hidden Love of J.C. Leyendecker (Paramount+)
- Special Recognition: Jeopardy! Champion Amy Schneider
- Special Recognition: The Laverne Cox Show (Shondaland Audio/iHeartMedia)
- Special Recognition: Life Out Loud with LZ Granderson (ABC News)
- Special Recognition: Outsports' Coverage of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
- Special Recognition (Spanish-Language): "Celebrando el Mes del Orgullo" (Telemundo)