At The 25th Annual GLAAD Media Awards last night at the Beverly Hilton in L.A., the legendary—and still hot in her eighties!—Rita Moreno made a strong case for Jennifer Lopez as a deserving recipient of GLAAD's coveted Vanguard Award, praising Lopez for the LGBT-inclusive series she produces, The Fosters:
“She's a phenom. Jennifer knew she'd catch shit from anti-gay haters—and she did, before they had even shot a frame, she got all that. But she didn't care. Because in its boldness, bravery and entertainment factor, The Fosters has Jennifer's touch all over it. Everything! Everything this woman touches is golden. Cojno! [Putting on accent] I could keel her.”
In accepting the award, Lopez said:
“I have to give it up for my lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender fans becausethey be loyal...Finally, I really want to thank GLAAD for all of the important, daring, powerful work that you do, not only in mainstream media, but in Spanish-language media too. You all need to know that GLAAD is spreading the message of love and acceptance in English and en Espanol. El amor es el amor.”
I know a lot of gay people who sniff at GLAAD, and to be fair, there is a lot to poke fun at. But whenever I attend these events, I have to say the B.S. is very easy to see through, and what I wind up focusing on is the good that GLAAD accomplishes, whether it's coaching new-to-the-public-eye gay writers, activists and others on how best to express themselves, or leading the conversation on issues like the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade and the importance of words and yes, of image, in this world. It's certainly understandable that we may disagree with some of GLAAD's tactics, but there is a lot of good being done here.