Carly and I attended the 24th Annual GLAAD Awards Red Carpet in Los Angeles this past weekend and were so excited to be there representing Autostraddle, which has been nominated for its own GLAAD award for “Outstanding Blog.” We talked to attendees and honorees alike, most notably, bad-ass queer Beth Ditto.

Check out some of our red carpet photos and interviews, and then the rest of the team will brief you on the show itself, in which lots of people won awards such as Bill Clinton, who received the inaugural Advocate for Change Award from his daughter Chelsea Clinton.

Carlytron on the Red Carpet

Fortune Feimster

photo by robin roemer

Carly: What was your fashion inspiration when getting dressed tonight?
Fortune: Um, lesbian. I was like, how can I look like a big ol’ lesbian? I just picked up my cardigan and tie and I was done. I was doing an interview and they asked us ‘who we were wearing?’ I was like, uh, the Gap. I don’t want to brag or anything, but that’s who I’m wearing.
Carly: Great tees. Great tees, guys, they’re very comfortable. Why do you think it’s so important that organizations like GLAAD exist?
Fortune: It’s important for me personally, because I wouldn’t be on television otherwise, you know. I feel like they’ve really paved the way to make it okay for people who are gay to be out in the media and they make it acceptable for other people to appreciate it who aren’t exposed to gay people. And you know, our show is very gay-friendly and we have gay people on staff, so teaming up and supporting this sort of organization is a good fit, because we both have a similar cause. Equality. All that good stuff.

Naya Rivera

photo by robin roemer

Maria Menounos

photo by robin roemer

 Hal Sparks

photo by robin roemer

Ted Danson & Mary Steenburgen

photo by robin roemer

Alex Newell

photo by robin roemer

Peter Paige

photo by robin roemer

Andrew Rannells

Remember back in 2004 when Andrew Rannells wasn’t a Huge Deal yet, like he is now because of The New Normal and Girls, and he was playing Dana Fairbanks’ beard and tennis partner? Oh, the memories. Oops, not true, actually — different guy.

photos by robin roemer

Teri Polo and Sherri Saum

photo by robin roemer

Chef K & Brittany

Much like our design director, Chef K (who you hopefully recognize from The Taste, but might also recognize from being Miss June 2012 Francine‘s girlfriend on The Real L Word) only dates Autostraddle Calendar Girls. Here she is with Brittany Weiner, Miss July 2013:

photo by robin roemer

Cori & Kacy

There is always a place in our heart for these two. Always.

Kacy Boccumini: We’re here for Jen Tyrrell. The Boy Scout den mother. The lesbian den mother. That’s who we’re here to support. Also, The Real L World, but tangential to, you know, equality.
Carly: We’re equality over reality television right now.
Kacy: Completely!
Cori Boccumini: High five.
Kacy: High five. Every day of the week.
Carly: So, what else is going on right now with you guys? What’s going on?
Cori: Just normal, boring stuff.
Kacy: You know, Jonesy’s still hanging out, still a cat. Still not pregnant, you know. Same old stuff. And we’re always crying. Always. Crying.
Cori: And we do talk about sperm.
Kacy: A lot.
Cori: Still.
Kacy: All the time.
Cori: We do it all day.
Kacy: Just ‘cuz.
Carly: It’s a good thing to talk about. If you’re not talking about it, who’s going to be?
Kacy: Nikki and Jill?

Beth Ditto

Check out our interview with Beth Ditto!

Beth Ditto Knows What’s Up – LA GLAAD Awards 4/20/13 from autostraddle on Vimeo.

Carly: What are you listening to right now, like what new albums are rocking your world?
Beth Ditto: My girlfriend and I — well, she’s obsessed — but we’ve been listening to the new Lil Wayne, a lot of Kendrick Lamar, Alabama Shakes. What else? Oh, the new Knife record.
Carly: Oh my god. Oh… my god.
Beth: Come on! I just love that, it’s like… feminist electro? Radical electro? It’s fucking brave. I got chills thinking about it.

Jane Espenson

photo by robin roemer

Wilson Cruz

photo by robin roemer

Unfortunately, some of the big names at the GLAAD Awards this year didn’t make it to the carpet (or to our end of the carpet), but attending the awards were attractive and interesting humans like Bill Clinton and Betty White…

photo via glaad

…Leonardo DiCaprio and Charlize Theron…

photo via glaad

…Kristen Dunst…

photo via glaad

…Sara Ramirez…

photo via glaad

….Jennifer Lawrence and Darren Criss (obviously they’re best friends now, right?)…

photo via glaad

…Jenny Boylan (author of She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders)…

photo via glaad

…and Drew Barrymore, who hosted the show!

photo via glaad

NEXT: Videos from the show!

GLAAD Awards Show

by the team

The relentlessly adorable Darren Criss kicked off the show with an enhanced rendition of Carly Ray Jespen’s “Call Me Maybe,” with brand-new lyrics:

Drew Barrymore gave her opening speech:

Jennifer Lawrence was the best, of course, and here she is introducing Bill Clinton with Harvey Weinstein:

And here’s Bill Clinton‘s speech:

Bill spoke about the importance of overturning DOMA:

“I’m very honored to join with Edie Windsor […] and with so many others, including President Obama and Vice President Biden, the whole Obama administration, urging the Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act. I want to keep working on this until not only DOMA is no longer the law of the land but until all people no matter where they live can marry the people they love.”

The audience was also treated to a performance from Kelly Rowland, because the Destiny of all Destiny’s Children is to perform for gay people a lot:

kelly rowland (photo via glaad)

Hey look, it’s Beth Ditto on the stage! She’s like, “What, I’m totally awesome.”

photo via glaad

Here’s Bill with his kickass offspring, Chelsea Clinton. She’s totally over DOMA, you can tell:

photo via glaad

Here are some families who have been impacted by GLAAD’s work, including Jen Tyrrell:

photo via glaad

Here’s Ryan Murphy with the cast of The New Normal (Andrew Rannells, Justin Bartha, Georgia King, and Jayson Blair.) Murphy’s got two awards in his mitts; one for Outstanding Comedy Series (The New Normal) and one for Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series (American Horror Story).

photo via glaad

Here’s Alex Newell, who plays Unique on Glee, and Jazz, the kickass 11-year-old trans girl and Elle Fanning, who I think is somehow just young enough to be both famous and totally off my radar. I hope afterwards Jazz was like, Hey Alex, can I call you Al, can we talk about Unique for a quick sec and you can just pass this on to Ryan Murphy, I’m afraid to talk to him because I still have Bloodyface nightmares?

photo by Kevin Winters for glaad

The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which is a delightful movie based on one of our favorite books of all time ever, won for Outstanding Film – Wide Release. Here’s Stephen Chbosky himself accepting the award (actors Johnny Simmons, Logan Lerman & Mae Whitman are behind him):

photo by Kevin Winters for glaad

Raising Hope received the award for Outstanding Individual Episode for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Me What to Do.” Here’s director Gregory Thomas Garcia accepting the award:

photo via glaad

The complete list of Los Angeles winners:

• Advocate for Change Award:  Bill Clinton
• Stephen F. Kolzak Award:  Steve Warren
• Outstanding Film – Wide Release:  The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Summit Entertainment)
• Outstanding Comedy Series:  The New Normal (NBC)
• Outstanding Individual Episode:  “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Me What to Do” Raising Hope (Fox)
• Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series:  American Horror Story: Asylum (FX)
• Outstanding Daily Drama:  Days of Our Lives (NBC)
• Outstanding Talk Show Episode:  “At Home with Neil Patrick Harris, His Fiancé David Burtka, & Their Twins” Oprah’s Next Chapter (OWN)
• Outstanding Los Angeles Theater:  The Children by Michael Elyanow

Spanish Language

• Outstanding Daytime Talk Show Episode:  “Confirma su identidad como mujer” Showbiz (CNN en Español)
• Outstanding TV Journalism – Newsmagazine:  TIE: “Los transexuales buscan su identidad en medio de ignorancia y prejuicios” Encuentro (CNN en Español) and “La vida en rosa”Aquí y Ahora (Univision)
• Outstanding Newspaper Article:  “Gays y padres excelentes” by Pilar Marrero (La Opinión)

The third and final 2013 GLAAD Awards ceremony will take place in San Francisco on May 11th. Adam Lambert will be accepting the Davidson/Valentini Award and Autostraddle co-founders Alex and Riese will be covering the event. The winner of “Outstanding Blog,” for which Autostraddle has been nominated, will be announced in San Francisco, so everybody say a prayer for us to whatever goddesses you worship every night until May 11th. Then, on May 11th, say 11 prayers for us. Thank you!

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