Actors and sports stars give their own LGBT shoutouts

BY ADAM M GLEN – Looking for a little good news?

In case you missed it, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation held the second of three annual media awards ceremonies in Los Angeles. Modern Family and Hot in Cleveland took home awards for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Individual Episode, respectively. OWN’s documentary Becoming Chaz took home the Outstanding Documentary trophy and Mike Mills’ beautiful, funny and sweet film Beginners (which snagged Christopher Plummer an Oscar and totally didn’t make me cry) snagged Outstanding Film – Wide Release.

But the two big winners of the evening were writer Chaz Bono and actor Josh Hutcherson. Bono won the Stephen F Kolzak Award for his work in advancing queer rights through his books and television appearances. The award was presented by his mother, Cher (and her fabulous hair), and his step-mother, Representative Mary Bono Mack. Hutcherson, one of the stars of the hit film The Hunger Games, received the Vanguard Award for his work as a queer activist and his contributions to the Straight But Not Narrow campaign, aimed at teaching straight males to accept their queer peers. You can watch their acceptance speeches below:

But the entertainment industry isn’t the only place with allies. This past weekend, Oakland As’ pitcher Brandon McCarthy came out swingin’ at the stadium’s Kiss Cam operators who try to get some cheap laughs from the crowd by showing straight male pairs. McCarthy tweeted, “They put two guys on the ‘Kiss Cam’ tonight. What hilarity!! (by hilarity I mean offensive homophobia). Enough with this stupid trend.” McCarthy went on to argue his point on Twitter through the night, engaging in civil responses to criticism. I’m not a huge baseball fan, but I’m certainly a fan of McCarthy.