GLAAD Media Awards: Ellen & Portia to present; Kathy Griffin to be honored and there’s $50 tickets!

I’ve just learned that those fabulous newlyweds Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have agreed to be presenters at Saturday night’s 20th Annual GLAAD Media Awards. The awards have left their previous home of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood to the new Nokia Theatre downtown.

You know it’s gonna be a fun night when your hostess will be Miss Coco Peru and among the award recipients is Kathy Griffin. Now that is quite a red-headed duo! Kathy will receive the prestigious Vanguard Award which goes to media professionals who, through their work, have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Griffin’s two-time Emmy winning Bravo series My Life on the D-List has been gay inclusive since day one and she has been an outspoken advocate for LGBT equality. She will be in some heady company as the recipient of the Vanguard Award joining the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli, Whoopi Goldberg, Eric McCormack, Charlize Theron and Antonio Banderas.

Among the other people scheduled to appear are the cast of The L Word which is being honored, Oscar winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk), Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher, Balthazar Getty of Brothers & Sisters, Shelter star Trevor Wright, Michelle Clunie of Queer as Folk and out stars Alan Cumming, Wilson Cruz, T.R. Knight, Rex Lee, Heather Matarazzo, Peter Paige,  George Takei, and director Gus Van Sant.

Also being honored is Rev. Gene Robinson – elected Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire in 2003 and invested as the Ninth Bishop of New Hampshire in 2004. He  will be presented with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award which goes to an openly gay medias professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for the LGBT community.It’s an award that in the past has gone to Melisssa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres, Sir Ian McKellen and Bill Condon.  This year Bishop Robinson was chosen to deliver the invocation at the opening celebration of the Presidential Inauguration at the Lincoln Memorial and has been a vocal advocate for full civil rights for LGBT people.

Sure, the Oscars are awesome, tbe Emmys pretty terrific, and the Golden Globes the best party in town. But GLAAD Awards mean the most to me because it’s always a night where you can kind of take stock of where we are are and where we’re going, of who is doing the work in the media to help with that journey. Then there is just the pure entertainment value of it all.

While there are $450 and $100 tickets, for the first time there are $50 tickets being honored. The cheaper tickets are for the show only and do not include such things as the cocktail reception, silent auction and VIP dinner but do get you inside the Nokia to watch everything that goes on onstage. Click HERE to order tickets.

Here are some of the faces we can look forward to seeing:

Jessica Alba	Jennifer Beals	Dustin Lance Black
Ilene Chaiken	Justin Chambers	Michelle Clunie
Bruce Cohen & Dan Jinks	Wilson Cruz	Alan Cumming
Ellen DeGeneres & Portia de Rossi	Scott Michael Foster	Balthazar Getty
Thea Gill	Pam Grier	Leisha Hailey
Teri Hatcher	Laurel Holloman	Paul James
T.R. Knight	Rex Lee	Megan Mullally
Nichelle Nichols	Peter Paige	Bill Paxton
Doug Spearman	Darryl Stephens	Amber Stevens
George Takei	Gus Van Sant	Christian Vincent