So, between sudden bouts of allergies, the standard crushing deadlines and increasingly frantic attempts to procure an outdoor wedding tent on eBay, I'm totally behind the curve on the the here!TV hissy fit over not being included for consideration for GLAAD's annual media awards. Apparently, tons of people are shocked -- shocked! -- to discover that this large, corporately financed communications company that targets gay folks with such intellectually illuminating programs as Dante's Cove now finds itself bereft of opportunity at being recognized with a piece of attractively shaped acrylic.
Of course, this has been going on for years, long before the gay mediascape became a stomping ground for the Leviathan known as Viacom. What dinners are to the Human Rights Campaign, awards ceremonies are to GLAAD. GLAAD raises money by hosting awards ceremonies in large, media-centric cities, handing out honors to television shows and movies that are brave and forward-thinking enough to talk about gay issues that the rest of the country moved beyond five years prior. Oh, fine, I'm exaggerating. Three years prior. Back in those long-ago days when the gay media world was made up of a lot of weekly and biweekly newspapers and magazines -- when Out was still a relatively new thing and "the Internet" still meant fighting to get in the queue for AOL's "dcm4m" chat room -- no one seemed to care much that GLAAD focused on recognizing Mr. Man instead of the community itself.
Fair enough. Just don't expect me to get exercised now on behalf of some suits who are surprised they won't be getting some dubious trophies for their corporate display shelves.
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