GLAAD to Honor Christina Aguilera, Bad Bunny, and Jeremy Pope

GLAAD will honor Christina Aguilera, Bad Bunny, and Jeremy Pope at the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, to be held at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles March 30.

Aguilera, a Grammy Award-winning music superstar, will receive GLAAD’s Advocate for Change Award, presented to a person who, through their work, has changed the game for LGBTQ+ people around the world. Previous honorees include Madonna and former President Bill Clinton.

Aguilera has often used her platform to advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. Recently, Club Q Colorado Springs shooting survivor Michael Anderson invoked her lyrics as he testified before the U.S. House Oversight Committee on LGBTQ violence. In 2002, Aguilera dedicated her song “Beautiful” to the LGBTQ+ community, with the line “words can’t bring us down” becoming a personal mantra for many queer people. It earned Aguilera a Special Recognition honor at the 14th GLAAD Media Awards.

She raised over $500 million for HIV research with MAC cosmetics in 2004, spoke out loudly against California’s Proposition 8 in 2008, and brought trans dancers and drag artists into the limelight during the 2012 American Music Awards. Following the Pulse Nightclub mass shooting in Orlando, Aguilera dedicated the song “Change” to those affected by the tragedy, with proceeds from the song going to victims’ families. She penned a “Love Letter to the LGBTQ Community” for Billboard in 2017. She launched a Pride collection in 2021, and it benefits two nonprofit organizations, TransTech and TransLash. She has performed alongside breakthrough LGBTQ+ artists including Anitta, Syd, Kim Petras, Chika, and Michaela Jaé, and has condemned anti-LGBTQ+ legislation like Florida’s “don’t say gay” law.

“Christina Aguilera is a beloved icon who has inspired and shared messages of love for the LGBTQ community since the start of her music career,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a press release. “From using her voice to speak out against anti-LGBTQ legislation to creating songs and music videos that showcase LGBTQ love, Christina loudly and proudly raises the bar for what it means to be a LGBTQ ally today.”

Grammy-winning recording artist and actor Bad Bunny will receive the Vanguard Award, which goes to allies who have made a significant difference in promoting acceptance of LGBTQ+ people and causes. Previous honorees include Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Kerry Washington, Cher, Janet Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Kacey Musgraves, and Antonio Banderas.

He has often spoken out for LGBTQ+ people and causes, especially in Puerto Rico, where he was born. For his music video for “Yo Perreo Sola,” he dressed in drag, telling Rolling Stone, “I did it to show support to those who need it. I may not be gay, but I’m a human.”

He has paid homage to Alexa Negrón Luciano, a trans woman murdered in Puerto Rico, wearing a shirt in Spanish that read, “They killed Alexa, not a man in a skirt.” In 2019, he supported a movement to force Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, to step down from office, after being exposed for corruption and anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes.

He plans to executive-produce the forthcoming Netflix adaptation of the novel They Both Die in the End, which features a queer Latinx storyline. Previous GLAAD Vito Russo Award recipient Ricky Martin told Rolling Stone that Bad Bunny is an “icon for the Latin queer community.”

“Bad Bunny uses his role as one of the world’s most popular music artists to boldly shine a light on LGBTQ people and issues, including transgender equality and ending violence against trans women of color,” Ellis said in the release. “By consistently advocating for our community, elevating our stories, and demanding action from anti-LGBTQ leaders, Bad Bunny redefines the positive influence Latin music artists can have within the LGBTQ community, and has set an example for all artists.”

Pope will receive the Stephen F. Kolzak Award, presented to an LGBTQ+ media professional who has made a significant difference in raising visibility and promoting acceptance of LGBTQ people and causes. It is named for a Los Angeles casting director who devoted the last part of his life to fighting homophobia and HIV stigma within the entertainment industry. Previous recipients include Laverne Cox, Wanda Sykes, Jim Parsons, Ruby Rose, Chaz Bono, Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres, and Michaela Jaé.

Pope is an out performer who has broken barriers across Broadway, television, and film, earning nominations for Tony, Grammy, Emmy, and Golden Globe awards.

His breakthrough film role as Ellis French in Elegance Bratton’s autobiographical first feature, The Inspection, follows a closeted Black gay man through Marine Corps recruit training in the “don’t ask, don’t tell” era. He was nominated for Golden Globe Award and a Film Independent Spirit Award”

In 2018, he earned two Tony Award nominations in the same season, one for Choir Boy and one for Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations. He then appeared in Ryan Murphy’s series Hollywood, where he earned an Emmy nomination for his performance as aspiring screenwriter Archie Coleman. Pope also had a meaningful arc in Pose, and in the final season of the series, his character, Christopher, gave audiences a sense of visibility and belonging for trans experiences and for those living with HIV.

Pope is about to wrap his Broadway run as Jean-Michael Basquiat in Manhattan Theater Club’s The Collaboration, and he will be seen reprise the role on film.

“Jeremy Pope is one of today’s most talented and dynamic actors who has given life and excitement to important stories that impact and honor the LGBTQ community,” Ellis said. “Offscreen, Pope has used his voice to have important conversations about being an out actor in Hollywood, which are key to continuing to erase stigma and bias that affect out actors today.”