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The ally and the out performer will both be recognized for their visibility and activism.
Oprah Winfrey and Niecy Nash-Betts will be honored at the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles March 14, GLAAD announced Tuesday morning.
Winfrey will receive GLAAD’s Vanguard Award, which is presented to allies who have made a significant difference in promoting acceptance of LGBTQ+ people and causes. Previous honorees include Bad Bunny, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Kerry Washington, Cher, Janet Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Kacey Musgraves, and Antonio Banderas.
Nash-Betts will receive GLAAD’s Stephen F. Kolzak Award, which is 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 in honor of the Los Angeles casting director who devoted the last part of his life to fighting homophobia and HIV stigma within the entertainment industry. Previous recipients of the Stephen F. Kolzak Award include Jeremy Pope, Laverne Cox, Wanda Sykes, Jim Parsons, Ruby Rose, Chaz Bono, Melissa Etheridge, Ellen DeGeneres, and Michaela Jae Rodriguez.
Winfrey is famed as a producer, philanthropist, actress, and author. She has received numerous GLAAD Media Awards over the years, for her eponymous talk show and other projects, such as her interview with actor Elliot Page on Apple TV+’s The Oprah Conversation, the first TV interview Page gave after coming out as transgender. He talked about lifesaving health care and political attacks on the rights of trans people. Winfrey’s Harpo Productions has two releases nominated for GLAAD Media Awards this year — the musical feature film The Color Purple and the TV series Black Cake.
Her philanthropic efforts include donations to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, college scholarships, COVID-19 relief, and a school in South Africa. She has frequently spoken out on LGBTQ+ issues; in a graduation speech to Tennessee State University’s class of 2023, she pointed out that LGBTQ+ rights are under attack along with women’s rights, voting rights, and more.
“At a time when it was potentially career-ending to support LGBTQ people, Oprah Winfrey did what's right and championed our community’s stories,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a press release. “A pioneer for diverse and inclusive media, she has shined a powerful light on HIV, on LGBTQ families, and on coming out, which educated and moved countless around the world. When Oprah speaks, the world listens and our community cherishes her as an unapologetic ally, especially to transgender people. Winfrey’s commanding career will forever align her on the right side of history.”
Nash-Betts, an actress and producer, recently won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her portrayal of Glenda Cleveland in Ryan Murphy’s Netflix limited series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. She is well known for her work in TV projects in Reno 911!, When They See Us, and more. She currently stars in Ava DuVernay’s feature film Origin, an adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontent.
Nash-Betts hosted the GLAAD Media Awards in 2021. In 2023, she received the Visibility Award from Family Equality for her work with the organization to support and protect LGBTQ+ families. In 2022, Nash-Betts and her wife, singer-songwriter Jessica Betts, made history as the first same-sex couple to appear on the cover of Essence magazine. Nash-Betts supports a variety of charitable causes, dealing with HIV, breast cancer, school violence, domestic abuse, and others.
“Opening doors both as a Black and queer woman, Niecy Nash-Betts’s outstanding legacy as a performer gives new meaning to the term trailblazer,” Ellis said in the release. “Her decades-long career is owed to her empathy, talent, and authenticity, which undoubtedly inform each move she makes as an activist and every role she portrays on-screen. Nash has redefined and expanded the role of Black queer women in entertainment and, along with her wife, Jessica, has become a possibility model to queer women everywhere.”
The awards ceremony will be hosted by Wayne Brady. Special guests include Alexandra Shipp (Anyone But You), Daniel Franzese (Mean Girls, Looking), Heather Dubrow (The Real Housewives of Orange County), Jason Sudeikis and the cast from Ted Lasso, Jonathan Bailey (Fellow Travelers), Matt Bomer (Fellow Travelers), Meredith Marks (The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City), Michaela Jaé Rodriguez (Loot), Michelle Visage (RuPaul’s Drag Race), Grammy-winning artist Victoria Monét, and the cast from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist nominee David Archuleta will perform at the official GLAAD Media Awards After-Party.
For more information and to order tickets, visit https://glaad.org/mediaawards/35.
Pictured, from left: Winfrey and Nash-Betts
