Ava DuVernay to Receive GLAAD’s Excellence in Media Award (Exclusive)

Alexis Bledel to present Samira Wiley with Vito Russo Award

Ava DuVernay
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Ava DuVernay will be honored with the Excellence in Media Award at the 29th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York, TheWrap has learned exclusively.

The Excellence in Media Award is presented to media professionals who have made a difference in promoting equality for the LGBTQ community. Previous honorees include Robert de Niro, Kelly Ripa, Debra Messing, Tyra Banks, Julianne Moore, Glenn Close, Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer.

DuVernay is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker who is helping to move the needle towards inclusion in the industry. She has supported careers of LGBTQ talent behind as well as in front of the camera, including on her own drama “Queen Sugar.” She is also the inspiration for the “DuVernay test,” which requires “African Americans and other minorities [to] have fully realized lives rather than serve as scenery in white stories.”

“We’re black. We’re brown. We are native. We are Asian. We are Muslim. We are queer. We are many things that deserve safe spaces and protection,” DuVernay said at a Women in Hollywood event last fall, supporting LGBTQ equality and acceptance. She also supported GLAAD’s Spirit Day by going purple on social media to speak out against bullying.

Also at the awards show, as previously announced, Alexis Bledel will present Samira Wiley with the Vito Russo Award for her LGBTQ advocacy. Vito Russo was a founder of GLAAD and is also a celebrated ACT UP activist.

Special guests at the awards ceremony will include Halsey, Laverne Cox, Lea Michele, Tituss Burgess, Nyle DiMarco, Wrabel, Blair Imani, and Asia Kate Dillon.

The GLAAD Media Awards honor media for fair and inclusive representation of LGBTQ people and issues, and they also fund GLAAD’s work to accelerate the acceptance of the LGBTQ community.

The GLAAD Media Awards will be held on May 5, 2018.

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