Last night was a celebration of lights, cameras and taking action at the 23rd annual GLAAD Awards in New York City. The awards show honors those in film, television, theater, and other branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
STORY: Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga & Chaz Bono Score GLAAD Media Award Nominations!
Amongst the crowd of immaculately well-dressed supporters that included Lala Anthony, Dakota Fanning and Wendy Williams, to name a few, was our very own Russell Simmons looking dapper, yet casual, in his signature Yankee fitted.
Russell has been a supporter of the event for a multitude of years and cites his own rights as the motivation for his attendance.
“The rights that you take for granted are not safe unless you fight for those same rights for others, that’s why I go to the GLAAD awards, that’s why I go every year,” said Russell.
After winning an award last year for excellence in media for his work on the marriage equality campaign, Russell confidently took the stage on the giving end this year to present the award of “outstanding film” alongside the stunning Lala Anthony, to Focus Features’ “Pariah.”
PHOTOS: Chris Brown Spreads Love To His LGBT Fans
In addition to the win for best film by “Pariah,” the award for Outstanding Reality Program was given to “Dancing with the Stars” which included its first transgender contestant, Chaz Bono and openly bisexual Lady GaGa took home the award for outstanding music artist for her album “.” Oprah was also honored for her episode “Coming Out on the Oprah Show: 25 Years of Unforgettable Guests.”
The night full of awards wouldn’t have been complete without the charity raising “Kiss off” that the hosts pleased the crowd with.
Glee star and co-hostess of the night Naya Rivera caused quite a stir when she offered her “sweet lady kisses to the highest bidder” prompting an on-stage “kiss off” between herself and Glee cast mates John Stamos, Naya and Cory Monteith that ended with John Stamos locking lips with a winning male.
Check out some of the photos in the gallery above to see what your favorite stars wore on the GLADD Awards red carpet, and to get a first hand look at Uncle Russ’ twitpics from the event where he played a little role reversal with seat mate Miss Universe, Leila Lopes.
