Gay group GLAAD honors best in media

By Bob Tourtellotte

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Civil rights group GLAAD honored the movie "Milk" and singled-out Reverend Gene Robinson and comedian Kathy Griffin for their work at a Saturday night gala highlighting issues such as gay marriage and equality.

Talk program "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" was given a GLAAD Media Award for its episode "Ellen & Portia's Wedding Day," covering DeGeneres' wedding to actress Portia de Rossi.

DeGeneres dedicated the honor to Carl Walker-Hoover, an 11 year-old Massachusetts boy who killed himself earlier this month because school kids bullied him and called him "gay."

"In my opinion, we are not fighting for gay rights, we are fighting for equal rights," DeGeneres told the black tie crowd at Los Angeles' Nokia Theater.

The 2009 awards marked the 20th year that films, TV shows, performers and others have been honored by GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

"Milk," about slain gay rights activist Harvey Milk, was named best film. "Desperate Housewives" was chosen best TV comedy, and "Brothers and Sisters" was named top TV drama.

GLAAD President Neil Giuliano spoke to the audience about the impact TV shows such as "The L Word" and movies like "Brokeback Mountain" have had on introducing audiences to all sorts of lesbian and gay characters and issues they face.

Giuliano touched on marriage and said that despite setbacks like the passage of California's Proposition 8 which denied gay men and women the right to marry in that state, progress has been made in other states where gay weddings are now legal.