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Ugly Betty wins gay award for second year
Ugly Betty
The GLAAD media awards recognise Ugly Betty as most Outstanding Comedy Series
"Other winners for their for positive portrayals of the gay community include the TV series Brothers and Sisters, Janet Jackson and Rufus Wainwright"
The hit US comedy Ugly Betty received the GLAAD award for Most Outstanding Comedy series at a star studded event in Los Angeles yesterday. The award was picked up by the show’s actors Michael Urie and Becky Newton, who play gay assistant Mark and his sidekick Amanda, along with its executive producer Silvio Horta.
Ugly Betty follows the life of a frumpy girl (Betty) as she tries to fit in working at a Vogue-like fashion magazine based in New York. The show features a flamboyantly gay fashion assistant (Mark) as well as a transsexual character and a young boy who seems to all the world like he’s going to grow up gay.
Other winners in the awards, designed to reward mainstream media for positive portrayals of the gay community, included the TV series Brothers and Sisters, Janet Jackson and Rufus Wainwright. Lesbian talk show host Ellen DeGeneres awarded Janet Jackson with the Vanguard Award, which recognises professionals who have increased understanding of the LGBT community through their work.
Cindy Crawford received a posthumous award on behalf of gay photographer Herb Ritts, presented by Tom Ford. The Pioneer Award is given to an individual who made a significant contribution to the development of LGBT-inclusive media images.
In her speech, Crawford spoke of how proud Ritts would have been to receive the award. “He once said, 'The more the public can see examples of people of the same sex together, the more the barriers will be broken’,” she said. Ritts died in 2002 from HIV-related illnesses.
In a related story, Chinese network Hunan Satellite TV has bought the rights to produce a version of Ugly Betty, which, when translated, means Invincible Ugly Woman. This is the latest in a long line of different adaptations of the show. They have been made in Dubai, Greece and even in the Western Balkans. The American version is itself an adaptation, as the show was originally developed in Colombia. It remains to be seen how much of the gay-friendly content of the American show will translate into the Chinese version.
