THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

There were also tributes to those lost Sept. 11, including a closing song by Barbra Streisand, who had won an an Emmy earlier that night.

Sex and the City won for Best Comedy Series over Will & Grace and others, while West Wing won for the second year in a row for Best Drama.

Lesbian playwright Margaret Edson's Wit, which starred Emma Thompson, won top honors in its category, and Judy Davis won for portraying Judy Garland. Peter MacNicol's lawyer on Ally McBeal was enough to defeat Sean Hayes for Supporting Actor in a Comedy, while Megan Mullally lost to Doris Roberts; Debra Messing lost to Patricia Heaton.

Todd Holland, in accepting his award for Directing a Comedy Series ( Malcolm in the Middle ) , kissed a Black man seated next to him and later thanked his "partner Scotch, my heart and soul." We believe Scotch was the seat-mate.

In one ironic scene, Ellen went into the audience and reached over Steve Martin to interview a person acting as a seat warmer. She then spoke with Steve...but neither of them touched on their past "close relationship encounters" with Anne Heche in their banter.

Sir Derek Jacobi ( for Frasier ) and Sally Field ( for ER ) won Emmys for their guest-star turns. And best of all, the models were not wearing tight-fitting dresses, but classy suits. The third time was the charm, even though it got sappy at times and seemed a bit too late out of the blocks.