AfterElton.com's 2009 Visibility Awards!

I agree for the most part with all of the selections.  It's been a very interesting year for gay visibility.

Not a clunker in the bunch, and wonderful reminders of some of the epic wins of the year. It's nice to remember them at the end of the pretty horrible year of politics and gay bashings so many had to live through.

Just a couple of anal-retentive corrections: It's "hippie" not "hippy." The latter is someone with big hips, no? I think Joe's last name is Jervis, not Jarvis.

Also, I would feel a whole lot better if you had included Frank Valentini, the out executive producer of OLTL, in your Men of the Year citation. He's as responsible as anyone for what gets on the air. Any way you can edit the article to add him in? He deserves to be acknowledged and applauded.

Thanks for a wonderful year! I couldn't get through the day without AE. 

 

I too mostly agree on your selections. Especially when it comes to Men of the Year. Thank you Nick, Scott, Brett and Ron for giving us not just fantastic acting, but a real story and real-like lives to follow (even within a soap)

I am however VERY tired of the Torchwood 'controversy'. Characters deaths in movies and on TV don't always have to make sense. Does the timing of death ever make sense? Yes maybe it could have been written better. But to give them a dishonerable mention after all the positives over the seasons? It just ain't right or fair and I am very disappointed.

Just my humble opinions.

Peace!

I'm going to have to say your awards are totally misnamed if you give the award to anyone other than Adam. Visibility means to me being out there in your face, while it may have been a banner year in soap opera's for gays... the fact is that it is a fading medium with less and less VISABILITY each year.... I honestly think that it's pandering to your readers more than it is a real accomplishment. Adam is now known worldwide, while the soaps are limited to North America for the most part. Sorry folks as much I enjoy AfterElton... this was an EPIC FAIL!

I like that you've chosen the OLtL crew for Men of the Year.  I think they run a very close tie with Adam Lambert, though.  He's really visible, and has certainly worked his way into many people's hearts.

I'm also thrilled that you included Patrik 1.5 as an Honourable Mention in the Best Movie category.  It's my favourite movie ever, straight or gay.  I wish more people had the chance to watch it.

Straight Ally of the year Dishonorable Mention - gosh, there were so many to choose from!  I think your choice of Pope Benedict and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is a good one;  they have so much influence in the world it's not funny.

Thanks for doing this.  I'm looking forward to seeing your choices for the decade. 

Great Choices. I think everyone on the list deserves to be there - though the TV musical category didn't seem to have much competition. I see a repeat in 2010. 

I also like that The United States of Tara is finally recoginized in the Drama category. I don't know why this show keeps getting nominations in the comedy category at award shows. There are some funny moments, but it is a pretty serious show. I wouldn't even consider it a dramedy. 

i completely disagree with people saying adam should win the man of the year. It's not enough for an artist to be "visible" in the media. it is not the quantity of your exposure in television but the quality of work you have done to raise positive awareness of the lgbt community and the various issues that we face. One life to live's gay storyline have been setting bars not just for american daytime but for primetime television as well. and various interviews showed the eloquence and moreso the dedication of these fine young men (nick, scott, ron, and even brett) to our cause. they even go to lgbt fundraising events!

what has adam done? - grab some straght guy and liplocked him on national tv?

NOT THAT I AM COMPLAINING about adam's lack of political activism. he is young. he is just starting out. he needs to build a career first. so to give him the man of the year visibility award is tooo early and really quite undeserving.

it is really not enough to proclaim your gay, glam up your album cover, be sexual (which have backfired) on live tv. you need to REPRESENT. if the gays of today are inspired by what adam has offered so far - then i'm worried for the future of our gay youth.

I approve of your choices (I know you've been waiting breathlessly to hear that!) but I have to disagree with your implication that audiences and critics universally disliked "Taking Woodstock."  I found it refreshing, the best movie on the '60s since "Across the Universe" (which was also undervalued).  And I especially liked meeting Ang Lee at the London Film Festival, where he and Imelda Staunton and other principals showed up to promote the film. 

And now, in the interests of shameless self-promotion, I'd like to present--no, I won't go there again.

"The mountain has wings."

According to Adam Lambert, Kris is a christian, but not conservative at all. In fact Adam was questioned about other christian contestants and he said that the only really conservative is Danny Gokey, even Michael Sarver is not that conservative (he said that Michael change a lot his mind during the tour).

And i find AI clips of the Hollywood week (i always watch the performances on youtube or in a blog but i've never watched the hollywood week before) and my gaydar pings a lot of times. To be honest, i find quite strange for a straight male sing songs like And i'm telling you i'm not going (something that did some of the male contestants). I think Adam open a door, and maybe in next editions we'll see an openly gay contestant from the begining

I get here! and have for a long time and this motion picture never materialized. I have been watching for it ever since After Elton and other sites mentioned it.

hey! people die young in torchwood! that's just how it is! how dare you give them a dishonorable mention! SHAME ON YOU!

 

;-)

I don't think it's fair to give Seth M and his animation triple-header a nod of disapproval. While his (at times frat-boy-esque) humor can push the boundaries in term of what is acceptable when making jokes about the LGBT community, his shows are consistently pro-queer and pro-equality.

 Yes, he makes some "gay jokes." So does Kathy Griffin, but her status as an outspoken queer ally gives her more latitude than, lets say, Ann Coulter. Seth's in that same camp. He's a great guy.

Don't believe me? Watch the following 3 episodes and you'll see what I'm talking about. It's only 60 minutes of footage. Only an hour to watch. I would bet serious money, that you'll walk out with a different perspective....

1) Family Guy, Season 4, Episode 25 - "You May Now Kiss the...Uh...Guy Who Recieves" (Subject - Gay Marriage)

2) American Dad, Season 2, Episode 4 - "Lincoln Lover" (Subject - Gay Republicans)

3) American Dad, Season 3, Episode 7 - "Surro-Gate" (Subject - Gay Adoption) 

 

Just my two cents, though.

 BTW, there does seem to be some mild (and I'm sure unintentional) transphobia in the first season of The Cleveland Show. I bet it changes, but it's nothing that we haven't seen on a few Entourage episodes and shows like that. I'm not making excuses for it, but it won't be a reoccurring theme.

I agree with major of your choices, especially with 'men of the year',they are just an incredibly amazing, i'm totally and hopelessly in love with Nick,Scott and Brett and with the story they are telling us:)

 

I can't really argue with any of these! I am glad that for Men Of The Year you all chose not just Kish but also Nick and the writer!  All four made this story work and that was such a huge splash in gay pop culture. It is not just because this happened at the end of the year but they were the ultimate tidal wave as the year came to the end. 

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If I bring out the devil in you, he was there all along!

Legally married Sept 18, 2009. Wedded Oct 10,2009.<

Tyler Briggs of Trauma certainly deserved a mention somewhere. He had one of the most affecting coming out scenes I can recall and his sexuality has been seamlessly integrated into the series. EMTs apparently hate the show because it supposedly doesn't present the medicine right but I for one don't care about that. I will miss Tyler.

Re The Amazing Race, Kisha, one of the sisters in the same season as Luke and the Whites, is a lesbian but this was never mentioned on the show.

Hey! AE got some press on Daytime Confidential for the Men of The Year section!

http://daytimeconfidential.com/tags/one-life-to-live

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If I bring out the devil in you, he was there all along!

Legally married Sept 18, 2009. Wedded Oct 10,2009.<

True, it barely touched on the guy from "Dance Your Ass Off," but he got a shout-out on the Best Gay Year Ever, so what the hell.

This was definitely a mixed bag for the gay community politically--a lot of the time, it was literally two steps forward, 1 1/2 steps back, sometimes see-sawing within 24 hours.  (New York & New Jersey and the gay marriage issue, contrasted with the everything-but-the-name in Washington State and full-on marriage rights in D.C.)  In addition to all these fabulous entertainers who so enriched our lives, I'd like to give a shout out to the politicos who stepped up to the plate and went to bat for our community--not because they were gay themselves, or even had friends or family members who were gay, but simply because they believed it was the right and moral thing to do.

Every day, folks, we get closer to full equality in this country.  It will happen.  It is happening.  The Right wouldn't be screaming as loudly as they are if we weren't slowly making progress.  And if you are part of that progress--by making calls, by donating money, by creating art, by just being "OUT" in the world--then a big hip-hooray for YOU!!! 

(Hey, it's my birthday, I'm feeling very celebratory.)

If they don't want to admit and advertise that their film is a gay themed movie about a man mourning the death of his lover, why should the gay press give it any attention? The filmmakers and studio know the gay press will cover it so they turn their backs on them and try to lure the mainstram, heterosexual press into covering the story of a movie where they imply the relationship is between Firth and Moore's characters.

They degay the trailer, the poster, and the actors and directors say it's a "universal story." No one in the mainstream media questions them. No one asks Matthew Goode, "How do you play a universal character? Were you shocked that your character had to kiss a man since you were playing a universal character?" No one asks Tom Ford, "If this isn't a gay love story, why is George mourning the death of his male lover? If this is a universal love story, why would you need to explain the gender of his lover?"

I am tired of filmmakers and studios degaying their material (TAKING WOODSTOCK is another example) because they know that gay audiences will accept any crumbs offered to them. We shouldn't support such homophobic behaviour.

There are some great choices on this list.

 

But one correction - Kris Allen is NOT a conservative Christian. He himself has described himself as anything BUT conservative.

I wasn't sure that Nigel Lythgoe was personally or deliberately homophobic when I saw that SYTYCD clip.

Howerver, last week he was on TV giving his opinion on Strictly Come Dancing (parent to Dancing with the Stars) along with Bruno Tonioli. Bruno had been one of Nigel's dancers back in the day and Bruno seems to have the measure of the man. Nigel was visibily aggitated by Bruno's 'flamboyance'. So Bruno upped the ante and became increasingly queeny and gay, much to the distress of Lythgoe. It culminated in Bruno dumping himself down on Nigel's lap, which led Nigel to squeal with horror like a little girl. 

I was having a hard time laughing and cheering at the same time. I think Bruno Toniolo is now - officially - a hero.