Typically mixing the meritorious, the mediocre, and the misguided, GLAAD today announced nominations in 33 queer categories of TV, movies, music, theater, journalism, blogs, and comic books (but no real books). Eight awards honor media work in Spanish. For every worthy and important nominee like Rachel Aviv's recent Netherland profile of homeless queer youth for The New Yorker, there is a grandstanding canard like that nonsensical piece calling Obama the first gay president which exists solely to grab attention for its author.
As America grows ever more accepting of gay equality, Hollywood reduces our visibility in mainstream features. Again this year, GLAAD's five nominees for best wide-release film are straight movies with only marginal lgbt characters. Some of these perpetuate the worst tropes, including The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel's sad old bugger who, of course, is the only one of the jaunty elderfolk to die. The lesbian in Your Sister's Sister has sex with her sister's boyfriend. The indies are better, led by Ira Sachs' Spirit Award nominee Keep the Lights On; Sundance's Mosquita y Mari; the Tribeca, Chicago, and Seattle film fests audience award winner Any Day Now starring Alan Cumming; the twink love drama North Sea Texas and the hetero wheelchair ballroom dancing romcom Musical Chairs directed by Susan Seidelman of Desperately Seeking Susan.
The documentaries are Chely Wright: Wish Me Away; Codebreaker about Alan Turing; Hit So Hard about Hole's dyke drummer Patty Schemel; David France's Oscar-bound How To Survive a Plague; and Vito.
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