Outstanding Film—Wide Release
Pick: Moonlight
Director Barry Jenkins and playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney have crafted a beautiful reflection on poverty, masculinity, and blackness in this year's sure-to-be Oscar Best Picture, Moonlight. With Moonlight, the two capture the oxymoronic stillness of Miami's dangerous Liberty City neighborhood (where Barry and Tarell both came of age), feelings of love and rejection of an abusive mother, the sensitivity and bravado of a world-wearied drug-dealer, and the struggle to live honestly but privately. Where you expect the film to zig, it zags. And it makes every move with grace.
—Nicole
Outstanding Comedy Series
Pick: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Of course Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is nominated for a GLAAD award for best comedy series! Not only is it brilliant, but it's the only TV series I can think of that has a (positive) portrayal of a bisexual male. Instead of being scheming or uncertain of his sexuality, Darryl is sincere and resolute in his devotion to his boyfriend WhiJo. WhiJo, who is a gay, was mostly offscreen this season, but his presence was felt in Darryl's arc leading up to their conflict over marriage in the finale. I hope to see further developments in season 3.
—gavsygoo
Outstanding Drama Series
Pick: Orphan Black
I can't get enough of Orphan Black, and I'’m super sad that the next season will be its last. This is female-driven science fiction at its best. Somehow Tatiana Maslany is 100% believable as a dozen different characters- and a couple of them are even queer! If you like clones and women kicking ass, this show is definitely for you. This show rockets to the top of my list purely because it had queer lady characters that haven't died.
—Amanda
Honorable Mention
Wynonna Earp has only had one season, but it has already become one of my favorite television shows. It's of a surprisingly good quality, especially for a SyFy show. The show follows Wynonna Earp's return to her hometown of Purgatory in order to protect the town—and the world—from demons. In the first season, Wynona's sister, Waverly, discovers that she is attracted to aptly named police officer Nicole Haught. Waverly's coming out was refreshingly glossed over and the show dodged the "bury your gays" trope splendidly. Cute ladies killing demons—it really doesn't get better than that.
—Amanda
Outstanding Individual Episode
Pick: “San Junipero”, Black Mirror
It's like the writer's room of Black Mirror is trolling me (me, specifically!) with this episode—an 80s synth-pop-scored queer romance. When party girl Kelly brings endearing nerd Yorkie out of her shell, I melted and wanted to pack my bags for the sea-side town of San Junipero. But there's a twist, because this is Black Mirror and there's always a twist. The usually bleak speculative-fiction series makes way for a little optimism here and lets us believe (if only for a moment) that technology and true happiness can coexist. Of course, no matter the advances, we're reminded that the heart will always be a difficult machine to calibrate.
—Nicole
Honorable Mention
I'm happy to see The Loud House recognized for being the first animated series with a same sex biracial married couple. Representation in an all ages series continues to be the next step in our culture, and this joins other greats like Adventure Time and Steven Universe.
—gavsygoo
Outstanding Documentary
Pick: Southwest of Salem
Every show in this category is definitely worthy of consideration, but I'd single out Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four because justice needs to be done.* Out of Iraq* is another must-watch because we could all use a happy ending.
—Devin
Outstanding Reality Program
Pick: Anything other than I Am Cait
I was quite happy to see so many nominees in the category that weren’t focused on the manufactured problems of upper-class white people. The glaring exception to that is I Am Cait, which was unceremoniously cancelled last year for low ratings. Did GLAAD feel obligated to nominate it because of its high-profile star? The category is fine without this show. Caitlyn Jenner was more humanized in the minutes of screen time she had in *The Trans List *than in all the hours of her reality show combined.
—Devin
Outstanding Music Artist
Pick: Love You to Death
I have to go with Tegan and Sara as my favorite in this category. I'm in love with Love You to Death. It's a super catchy and fluid album and, after listening to "Boyfriend" approximately a million times in 2016, it was one of my overall favorite records last year. It's unabashedly queer and makes you want to dance. Enough said.
—Amanda
Honorable Mention
Really, Frank Ocean could have released an album of him reciting the phone book and I would have picked him as a favorite. We’ve been waiting for years for an album after Channel Orange, and Blonde definitely delivers the goods. Its abstract and unique sound sets him apart from many artists and his previous works. This album is definitely one of the highlights of 2016.
—Amanda
Outstanding Comic Book
Pick: Kim & Kim
My pick for Outstanding Comic is definitely Kim & Kim. I love it because it's a story about two queer women always showing up for each other, with a lady energy that is so beautifully, fluidly queer. The story is fun, quirky, exciting, but has a spice of depth with family drama and figuring themselves out along the way.
From writer, Magdalene Visaggio:
"It really is an incredible and deeply unexpected honor to have been nominated. I feel a little out of my depths up against some of the best work to come out in comics in the last year. I hope this nomination means that I succeeded at the main thing I wanted to accomplish when I decided to make my leads in Kim & Kim both queer women: to never sensationalize, gawk at, or disrespect their queerness and to develop fully-realized characters with queerness at their heart. In Kim Q, I wanted to create the transgender character I needed as a kid and, God willing, to really fuck up some confused trans babies in the best way by showing them that it can happen, it does happen, and it doesn't have to totally obliterate the rest of their lives."
—ztmac108
#GLAAD
#glaad awards
#Representation
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