How The News Broke

The #GLAADawards are going virtual this year with @LenaWaithe, @DollyParton, @LilNasX and more!

✨🌟✨https://t.co/8INQ6djFUD

— GLAAD (@glaad) July 9, 2020

Earlier this year, GLAAD announced that the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies that were originally planned for New York (March 19) and Los Angeles (April 16) would no longer take place in accordance with guidance from New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and California State Governor Gavin Newsom around COVID-19.

GLAAD previously announced over 175 nominees in 30 different categories for the 31st year of the ceremony, including Outstanding Broadway Production. The Outstanding Kids & Family Programming category expanded to ten nominees as a result of an increase in LGBTQ images across the kids and family television programming and an increase in GLAAD's work to advocate for inclusion in this genre. GLAAD also announced Special Recognition honors for Netflix'sSpecial and for pioneering LGBTQ journalists Karen Ocamb and Mark Segal.

Those nominees in those categories will be showcased in a virtual ceremony that will be streamed on GLAAD's Facebook and YouTube pages on July 30 with an airing on August 3 on Logo TV.

Who Will Be There? 

Congrats to the #glaadawards nominees - join us on July 30! LGBTQ visibility matters during these dark cultural times. Thank you to the team for working hard to send a message of love to LGBTQ people everywhere through this virtual event (h/t @DinoRay) https://t.co/w238ahTkM4

— Sarah Kate Ellis (@sarahkateellis) July 9, 2020

GLAAD announced that comedians Fortune Feimster and Gina Yashere will host the virtual ceremony on July 30, which will feature a special performance from Grammy-nominated duo Chloe x Halle. GLAAD also announced that special guests Cara Delevingne, Kaitlyn Dever, WWE superstar Sonya Deville, Beanie Feldstein, Jonica T. Gibbs, Dan Levy, Lil Nas X, Rachel Maddow, Ryan O'Connell, Dolly Parton, Peppermint, the cast and producers of Pose, trans model and advocate Geena Rocero, Angelica Ross, Benito Skinner, Brian Michael Smith, Dwayne Wade & Gabrielle Union, Lena Waithe, Olivia Wilde and Raquel Willis (Writer, Activist, Director of Communications - Ms. Foundation) will appear during the virtual event.

GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis gave some details about this year's ceremony and what makes it so special:

"Among this year's nominees are a wide range of stories and narratives about LGBTQ people of different races, ethnicities, genders, religions, and other identities that demonstrate the power of inclusion and diversity in fostering positive cultural change. As this year's Media Awards go virtual, we hope to send a powerful message to LGBTQ people that in the midst of this culturally and politically divisive time, our visibility and voices have never been more important."

How GLAAD Is Changing The World 

View this post on Instagram

The Concert For Love & Acceptance brought performances and messages of LGBTQ acceptance around the world. You can catch it again on Thursday, July 9 at 5 p.m. on @tyherndonofficial’s Facebook. Thank you Ty for supporting our work.

A post shared by GLAAD (@glaad) on Jul 8, 2020 at 11:15am PDT

GLAAD also pointed out that as racial and ethnic diversity continues to grow within the media industry, this year's nominees include powerful and impactful stories about LGBTQ people of color. Several of the nominated television series include series leads that are LGBTQ people of color, including: Euphoria,Killing Eve, The L Word: Generation Q, Pose, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Dear White People, One Day at a Time,Superstore, Vida and Tales of the City.

Rejoice, LGBTQ community! This ceremony is going to be one to remember.