Exclusive chats with Clay Aiken, Phil Donahue, Parvez Sharma, Simon Doonan and more at the GLAAD Media Awards

LZ Granderson, Clay Aiken, Darryl Stephens, Phil Donahue and Neil Giuliano (Pics: GETTY)

On Saturday evening I had the opportunity to check out the 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards here in NYC and speak to a few of the honorees, nominees and guests on the red carpet. A heady mix of boldface names, longtime gay allies, out-and-proud celebrities and creative types, the affair was a whirlwind of activity.

Yesterday I posted a bit of my chat with Van Hansis and Jake Silbermann of As the World Turns, and today I'm posting a bunch of chats I had about GLAAD and gay visibility in media in general with stars like Phil Donahue, Clay Aiken, Darryl Stephens, LZ Granderson, Neil Giuliano, Parvez Sharma, Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler.

We'll have more tidbits to come in the next week as we roll out a few features here on the site, so be sure to check back for more ... and in the meantime enjoy what these fine folks had to say. 

Clay Aiken

AfterElton.com: Did you ever imagine five years ago that you'd be here tonight presenting at the GLAAD Media Awards?

Clay Aiken: You know, I don't know. I don't plan my life out in advance. So it's great to be here and to be part of an event and an organization that does what GLAAD does ... I don't know where I'm gonna be next week, much less what I was doing 5 years ago.

AE: Have you been watching Idol?

CA: No, haven't watched it in years. The season where Fantastia won was the last one I watched regularly.

AE: There's a contestant who's doing very well this season who has been the subject of lots of speculation on the Internet in regards to his sexuality. As someone who's been through that, do you have any advice on making through the experience?

CA: I wouldn't have any advice for one person in particular. I think it's important to be yourself, and you have to be authentic and you have to make sure you're not trying to be something you're not. I don't know who you're talking about, but anybody who's on the show has to be authentic and sing things that are true to themselves. You know, don't try to be a pop star if you can't sing this type of music. Do what comes to you organically, and that generally helps people.

AE: Did you feel it was a "no gay zone" while you were there?

CA: No, not at all. No. Not at all. Everybody who's ever worked on the show who I've worked with in the past knew before I made any announcement or anything, so it's always been a very embracing environment over there.

When asked if he thought America was ready for an out American Idol, he replied, "Well, they've been pretty nice to me."

Outgoing GLAAD President Neil Giuliano with Phil Donahue

AfterElton.com: With gay issues like marriage and adoption being discussed more than ever in the mainstream media, are there new challenges we face in regards to GLAAD's mission?

Neil Giuliano: Visibility means that we can no longer run away - we can't run back. So we have to embrace the visibility and we have to tell our stories authentically and compellingly and truthfully. That is what GLAAD's work is every single day. So we have to be sure that everyone in the media who is telling our story gets the facts right, tells the story right, and that gives us an opportunity to speak honestly about who we are as people. You'll hear me say later tonight that when we talk honestly about our lives, people understand that we want the same things that everybody else wants and they're much more willing to give us full equality. So we're getting there.

AE: How does it feel giving Phil Donahue this Special Recognition at the 20th Media Awards?

NG: He was there 20 years ago. I wasn't there 20 years ago, most of the people here tonight most likely weren't there 20 years ago. So to have a straight ally as highly visible and successful as Phil Donahue stand with us from the very beginning, it's very special. He deserves this honor and recognition and I'm so glad he can be here.

Phil Donahue

AfterElton.com: When you received the first ever GLAAD Media Award in 1990, did you ever imagine that you'd be here tonight with all this?

Phil Donahue: No. 20 years ago when I got the first GLAAD Media Award there were fewer people in the room than there are photographers here tonight. And it's visible evidence of how fast this revolution hit. I mean, the momentum - we were there when the energy began to build. And suddenly Fortune 500 companies wanted to be in on this - you know you're getting somewhere when you become a market. So hooray for the people who supported GLAAD throughout these years. These are people who have spoken to a lot of empty chairs, they've seen a lot of middle fingers, and they've kept on keeping on. And we have victories to show for it - we have so far to go, to be sure, but nobody's going to quit until we have a world without closets.

AE: Do you think it's much easier today to be an outspoken gay ally?

PD: We lost sponsors, we had mothers who felt their children would "catch it" if they watched it. We're a long way from that ignorance now. And we're popular! You know, a majority of Americans support gay rights. Our issue now is to get those people to say so, to stand up and say so. And what I'm trying to say is that if they get in on this, they're going to meet a lot of nice people.

Darryl Stephens of Noah's Arc

AfterElton: Congratulations. With your nominations for both the GLAAD Media Award and NAACP Image Award this year, do you feel that we're truly in a new age?

Darryl Stephens: I think the fact that Julian Bond, the president of the NAACP, coming out and talking about the fact that gay rights are civil rights and quoting Coretta Scott King on that issue, I think it's actually huge. I think having people like the NAACP and GLAAD working behind and pushing on these issues is great - we're definitely moving in the right direction.

AE: What more needs to be done?

DS: I think we need to do what we're doing right now, which is talking about the issue. I think a lot of folks are still confused about what it means for gay people to be married and somehow it's going to compromise their own rights in some way, which I still don't understand. But I think that the more folks that see us and the more visible we are as a community, the more people will see that we aren't asking for anything ridiculous and we're not trying to compromise their so-called institution in any way, we just want to live our lives and be happy.

AE: To that point, I remember that when you were on the Out 100 in 2007 we had a hard time discussing you on our site because up to that point you hadn't discussed your sexuality publicly. Has it been difficult at all adjusting to being out?

DS: Honestly, it wasn't hard. I've been personally out forever. It was never an issue of dealing with anyone in my personal life, it was more, "do I want to be an actor who's doing different roles or do I want to be someone who's talking about my personal life all the time. And to be honest, most of the interviews I've done since then have been about that fact, and it's frustrating sometimes. Because once I talk about it and it's all out in the open, let's move on - let's talk about work, let's talk about ... talking about gay marriage is great, but it's all about moving forward to the next step. Talking about coming out is exhausting. But at the same time, if talking about it is helping other people do it, then I do understand the importance of that.

Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler

AfterElton.com: So you got married in California.

Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler: We did.

AE: Is NY recognizing it?

SD: As far as I'm concerned I'm married, so they can all go fuck themselves.

JA: Yeah, even if we don't have our civil rights we're going to have endless giggles so fuck all of them. So what if we're second-class citizens, we're happy.

Parvez Sharma, director of A Jihad for Love, winner for Best Documentary,
with producer Sandi Simcha Dubowski

AfterElton.com: Now that the film has been released in Europe, have you met any resistance from groups that perhaps don't agree ith the message?

Parvez Sharma: The negative response has come in spurts. But recently when the film was released in England where you have a lot of radical Islamic groups there was a surge in the kind of hate mail that I've gotten, and most of it comes from more conservative Muslims living in the UK. But mostly we're fatwa-free, it's very positive and it releases on DVD on April 21st where it will be subtitled in seven languages.

We've had underground screening in Iran, in Pakistan, in Bangladesh. And now with the DVD being subtitled in some of the languages that are represented in the film, it is going to be even more accessible to Muslim populations.

AE: And you think it will be able to reach people in those areas?

PS: It will definitely show up in the black market, and that will be the best way for people to get it.

AE: Have you been in touch with any of the subjects?

PS: I've been in touch with all of them. They are doing very well. But it is hard sometimes, I think, to be a refugee post-September 11th, especially a Muslim refugee in the West, so I think there's been a commonality of struggle around that.

AE: Have you considered doing a follow-up?

PS: I'm post-gay, I'm done. (laughs) ... I'm working on a Bollywood or partial Bollywood film.

LZ Granderson, Award-winner for Best Online Journalism For ESPN.com

AfterElton.com: What was the response from the ESPN establishment? Were there any mixed feelings about being nominated for a GLAAD Media Award?

LZ Granderson: Absolutely not. I've worked for media in 15 years and I've never worked for a company that has been so supportive. In fact the man in charge of all content for ESPN, when he heard I was nominated, cleared his schedule to be here tonight. We're in the middle of Final Four, March Madness, we're in the middle of a lot of important sports things going on all around the world. And he cleared his schedule to be here to support me, so that tells you how important it is to ESPN. 

AE: In the UK they're taking a formal approach toward stopping homophobic fan behavior, particularly soccer and rugby. Do you see that happening here?

LZ: That's already in place - particularly with the NCAA that's all in place, and it's all about enforcing that policy now. It's about having individuals who see wrongdoings and report those wrongdoings, the paperwork's all there, now it's up to us to enact it.