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2005 — 16th Annual GLAAD Media Awards
 Outstanding Film - Limited Release
Brother to Brother
Wolfe Releasing
Brother to Brother is the feature-film debut of Rodney Evans, the film's writer, director and producer. In this intelligent, ambitious film, Evans examines the lives of Perry and Bruce, two gay African American artists. In modern day New York, Perry, a young student, meets Bruce Nugent, an elderly poet from the Harlem Renaissance. In flashback sequences, Bruce tells Perry about being a queer artist in the 1920s. Through those stories and his relationship with Bruce, Perry finds the strength needed to express his own internal emotions and conflicts in his art.
 Outstanding Drama Series
Six Feet Under (winner)
HBO
Alan Ball's critically acclaimed drama continues to explore David and Keith's relationship. Keith's new job as a security guard to the stars causes tension in the relationship when David realizes that Keith is not out to his macho new co-workers. The situation worsens when David is brutalized by a psychopathic carjacker. Meanwhile, Claire is fascinated by Edie, her new lesbian friend from art school, and experiments with her own sexuality. But ultimately, Claire decides their sexual relationship is not satisfying for her and ends that aspect of their friendship.
 The Wire
HBO
In the third season of this gritty drama set in Baltimore, Omar and his boyfriend Dante survive on the streets by robbing drug dealers, specifically the drug crew run by Avon Barksdale. Meanwhile, ambitious African American detective Shakima Greggs is working to bring down the Barksdale crew. Shakima's girlfriend, Cheryl, has just had a baby, and Shakima is not adjusting well to their new domesticity. Like her male colleagues, Shakima tries to shut down her emotions by drinking too much and by sleeping around.
 Outstanding Reality Program
American Candidate
Showtime
American Candidate selected ten citizens to campaign for President of the United States. Two of the contestants are openly gay - African American activist Keith Boykin and management consultant Chrissy Gephardt - and another candidate has an openly transgender campaign manager. As the consistent frontrunner, Keith Boykin has the opportunity to debate gay and lesbian civil rights issues with the more conservative candidates. While Boykin does not win the presidency, voters consistently choose him as the "most presidential" in this fictional but dramatic race.
 The Real World: Philadelphia (winner)
MTV
This season of The Real World included Willie and Karamo — two openly gay men. Willie is a Puerto Rican American who embraces mainstream gay culture. Karamo is an African American from Houston whose parents are from Jamaica. Karamo eloquently expresses the challenges he faces as a gay, African American man in a homophobic, racist culture. By quietly being himself, Karamo challenges stereotypes about what it means to be African American and what it means to be gay.
 Outstanding Talk Show Episode
"The 11-Year-Old Who Wants a Sex Change"
The Oprah Winfrey Show
syndicated
Oprah caused a sensation with this episode about kids who identify as transgender. She interviews Hal (age 9) and Kaden (age 11), who were both born girls but now live as boys with the support of their parents. Oprah also interviews the parents of five-year old Dylan, who regularly insists that he will grow up to be a girl.
 "I was Born a Woman...Today I'm a Man"
Maury Povich
syndicated
Maury Povich set aside his usual "shock show" format to produce a responsible and respectful show on female-to-male transgender people and their partners. By asking informed questions and letting the guests speak for themselves, Povich allowed his daytime audience to see real people with real lives.
Outstanding Newspaper Columnist
Derrick Z. Jackson
The Boston Globe
A Boston Globe columnist since 1988, Derrick Z. Jackson was a 2001 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. This year, Jackson wrote extensively about the same-sex marriage debate occurring in Massachusetts, and praised Dick Cheney's vocal support of his lesbian daughter. As an African American writer, he wrote powerful columns comparing the fight for same-sex marriage to the fight for interracial marriage, and remembering the contributions of openly gay activist Bayard Rustin to the black civil rights movement of the 1960s.
 Outstanding Magazine Article
"At Home in Two Worlds"
by Dirk Johnson and Adam Piore
Newsweek
As same-sex marriage and gay parenting become hot-button issues, children of gay and lesbian parents are finding their voices and connecting with one another. Johnson and Piore report on how the Internet and advocacy groups such as Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE) are helping these kids find each other.
"Homophobia of All Hues"
by Christopher Lisotta
The Nation
This year, the anti-gay religious community has urged the African American community — especially its prominent religious leaders — to oppose same-sex marriage. Lisotta profiles the National Black Justice Coalition, formed by African Americans in the LGBT community, which works with African American clergy who favor marriage equality to help their community accept its lesbian and gay friends and family.
 Outstanding Digital Journalism Article
"Sex, Lies and the 'Down Low'"
by Whitney Joiner
Salon.com
Bestselling author J.L. King is the new public face of a not-so-new phenomenon — straight-identified black men who secretly sleep with men. Is he a savior to black women worried about HIV or simply a self-promoter out to get his 15 minutes of fame? Whitney Joiner interviews King, but also talks to critics like Keith Boykin who argue that King is profiting from creating a culture of fear among black women and perpetuating negative stereotypes about black men. Boykin questions whether fanning fears of a bisexual black bogeyman will actually do anything to help stop the spread of HIV in the African American community.
 "Sylvester: Living Proof"
by James Earl Hardy
Africana.com
Sylvester was an openly gay singer who scored several chart-topping hits in the '70s and '80s, namely "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)" and "Dance (Disco Heat)." While not as well known as some of today's openly gay musicians, Sylvester was a pioneer: a black man who was also openly — even flamboyantly — gay. That Sylvester was able to thrive when male singers of all colors were (and still are) expected to walk the straight and narrow was a true testament to his talent — and his nerve.
 Outstanding Comic Book
Ex Machina
by Brian K. Vaughn
Wildstorm Comics
In this new book by writer Brian K. Vaughn, the recently elected mayor of New York is a rather naïve guy (with minor superpowers) who is elected after he saves one of the Twin Towers on September 11th. In a style reminiscent of The West Wing, readers follow the new mayor as he and his staff learn the ropes of running city government. One of the first questions he faces is whether or not he will use his official capacity as mayor to perform a marriage ceremony for an openly gay firefighter. After a moment's thought, he agrees to perform the ceremony — in spite of the negative impact it could have on his nascent political career.
 Outstanding Los Angeles Theater
Stage Directions (winner)
by L. Trey Wilson
[Inside] the Ford and The Odyssey Theatre
Tension erupts between two African American actors during the rehearsal of a play when one expresses discomfort over a scripted stage kiss. As the openly gay playwright of the play-within-a-play struggles to convince the actor that artistic integrity demands that he kiss the other actor, the playwright faces his own internalized homophobia.
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