Glee's Naya Rivera and Cory Monteith hosted as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) honored producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago, Hairspray, Smash) and the best in television, film and journalism March 24 at the 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York, according to a press release.
Bernadette Peters, Dakota Fanning, John Stamos, Harvey Weinstein, Megan Hilty, Russell Simmons and Carson Kressley were among the special guests.
Peters and Stamos presented the Vito Russo Award to producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. The Vito Russo Award is presented to openly LGBT media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equality for the LGBT community.
Zach Wahls, who appeared in a GLAAD Media Award-nominated episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show this year, received a standing ovation as he spoke to the crowd about the impact of his 2011 speech to the Iowa senate in which he spoke about his lesbian moms. The viral video has received over 18 million views on YouTube.
Among the other honorees were Cinema Verite (Outstanding TV Movie or Miniseries), Lady Gaga (Outstanding Music Artist), The New York Times (Outstanding Newspaper Overall Coverage), and Towleroad and Mombian (Outstanding Blog). Windy City Times runs Mombian, which advertises itself as "sustenance for lesbian moms."
Other award ceremonies will take place April 21 in Los Angeles and June 2 in San Francisco.
See the full list of award recipients at www.glaad.org .