Ryan Murphy will receive a GLAAD Media Award for promoting LGBTQ visibility in the media.
The openly gay screenwriter, producer, and director will be awarded the Vito Russo Award, which is presented to an openly LGBTQ media professional who has made a significant difference in accelerating LGBTQ acceptance. Past honorees include Billy Porter, Anderson Cooper, RuPaul, Georgia Takei, Andy Cohen, and others.
“Ryan Murphy is a talented trailblazer behind some of the most innovative and popular LGBTQ projects in television, theater, and film history, and he continues to bring underrepresented LGBTQ voices to the table in ways that raise the bar in Hollywood,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said. “Ryan’s unique and gifted brand of storytelling has not only entertained the masses but provided LGBTQ youth with characters who inspire them to live boldly and proudly.”
Some of Murphy’s LGBTQ-inclusive projects that won him past GLAAD Media Awards and nominations include the Assassination of Gianni Versace—American Crime Story, American Horror Story: Asylum and Apocalypse, Glee, Pose, and The Politician. Murphy will also direct the film adaptation of the LGBTQ-inclusive Broadway play The Prom and produce The Boys in the Band for Netflix. Both films are set to release in 2020.
Murphy will receive the award at the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards on March 19 in Los Angeles. Other honorees include Taylor Swift and Janet Mock, who will receive the Vanguard Award and Stephen f. Kolzak Award, respectively.