A few weeks ago, we volunteered to work as Celebrity Escorts for the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards.
GLAAD is an organization that monitors the media to make sure that all Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning people are fairly represented. Every year, they have three events called the GLAAD Media Awards in NY, LA and another city (usually in San Fran but they’ve also had it in Miami).
This is the third time we’ve volunteered for the media awards but the first time we’ve done it in LA. The other two times were in NYC. So we basically knew what to expect, especially since we have volunteered as Celebrity Escorts one other time. It was held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. Here we are walking from the parking lot:
Here is the actual hotel, so pretty:
As soon as we got there, we were told to sit down, eat stuff and cool our jets.
And man do they feed you. So good. After eating, they took us around the event to show us how to do our jobs. We got to see Adam Lambert rehearsing which was fun.
I was happy to have the good fortune to be escort Constance McMillen, the lesbian teen whose town cancelled her prom rather than allow her to bring her girlfriend. Not only did they do they, they also decided to hold another secret prom that she wasn’t invited to. Such bully bullshit. Here is a picture of Constance:
Constance brought her friend, another bullied lesbian named Ceara Sturgis. An out lesbian, her high school wouldn’t let her pose in a tuxedo jacket for her yearbook photo. Just recently, she received her yearbook to find that she’d been completely omitted and not even mentioned. Here is a picture of Ceara:
They were with their ACLU lawyer Christine as well (who was awesome). I am here to say that these young women are very sweet, down to earth people. They’re not looking for attention. They’re not looking to be treated “differently”. They’re just looking to live their lives but they’re being bullied by bigoted ADULTS; adults who should know better than to bully kids. It’s gross.
Anyway, the awards were a TON of fun. They were hosted by Wilson Cruz and Candis Cayne who killed it.
I was able to kind of meet Adam Lambert because Constance and Ceara wanted to meet him! I was standing on the other side of Ceara next to the photographer! OMG!
Flash Mob America performed and surprised everyone there. It was so much fun.
We got to see a lot of awesome celebrities, which is always exciting. Here are some of them:
You can see pictures of the other Celebs that came here.
I was nervous because Constance had to present the Stephen F. Kolzak Award to Wanda Sykes. I wanted to make sure she got to the Green Room on time because I knew she was a little nervous. She got there with a little time to spare and she absolutely nailed it. Here she is killing it:
Here is Wanda accepting:
In the Green Room, we got to chat with Wilson Cruz for a hot minute and he was awesome!
Once Constance was done, she really wanted to see Adam Lambert perform but she and Wanda got sidelined by a reporter. Also, Elke Kennedy, the Mom who runs Sean’s Last Wish wanted to talk to them. Elke’s son Sean went to a bar and was bashed for being gay. The man who bashed him left him for dead and had the nerve to text Sean’s friend a few hours later that Sean owed him money for “breaking his hand”. Sean died. Shit like this is not okay which is why GLAAD’s work is so important. They go after media coverage that depicts LGBTQ people in a negative light and applaud those who depict LGBTQ people in a positive light. Such a good cause.
After they talked, it was time for the After Party. They took a break in their room and we took some pictures in front of the Red Carpet which was about to be broken down:
At the After Party, we left them alone to relax. They were awesome but I know I’d be tired of being “handled” all day long haha. It was great meeting you guys!!!
Thriller came on and the Flash Mob people went bananas (as did we):
Here are some pictures of the After Party, where everyone could relax after a job well done:
We each had a glass of champagne. Well deserved I tell you, our dogs were barking:
These are just some pictures of the party itself. It was really well-done and pretty in there:
We didn’t get home until probably almost 2 or 3am. We were EXHAUSTED. We walked into the courtyard and it was pitch black. In the blackness, I somehow noticed a patch of white fur. I thought it was a skunk because there are a LOT of skunks on our block. When my eyes adjusted, I realized it was ELVIRA!!! I scooped her up and we realized that our front window was knocked out! We ran inside PRAYING that we weren’t burglarized. We weren’t but Monster was nowhere to be found. Panicked, we locked the other animals up and ran outside to look for him. Terrified, the first thing I did was look for his body. I was like, there is just no way he wasn’t hit by a car. Our street isn’t exactly busy but it’s near a LOT of busy streets. Also, since there are a lot of bars near us, there is a lot of people that park on our block (bastards). Kristyn heard growling in the bushes, followed it and realized that it was a different cat. A few minutes later, she heard rustling and a weird growly meow. She checked and it was Monster. She coaxed him near her and after a few tense moments, he relented and she was able to grab him. Basically what happened was that one of them must have pushed on the screen and knocked it out. There are bars on the window so a person actually couldn’t have gotten in but the screen was able to fall out, leaving a big enough hole for those bastards to jump down. But once out, there really isn’t a way for them to get back in logistically. Elvira was smart enough to stay in the courtyard. Monster must have gone under the gate or slipped out when someone opened it and then hid in the bushes, too scared to run around. We actually held them and cried for a long time after we got in. We were SO convinced we’d never see him again. It was a weird, stressful way to end such a beautiful day haha.
Whew!
Thankfully, our landlord had someone come over to nail the screen in so these bad cats can’t do this again, haha.
P.S. I just want to say that the pictures and video taken of the celebrities were taken from GLAAD’s website. Thank you!
P.S. #2 I want to thank GLAAD for giving us this opportunity. It was a total blast and we are definitely doing this again next year! (If they’ll have us haha)
P.S. #3 You should do it too! All you have to do is sign up. You can’t be a Celebrity Escort your first year but there are a ton of other jobs you can do. For ALL of the jobs, you get so see the show and see a ton of celebs. You’re also volunteering your time to a great human rights cause that allows people like me to live their lives to the fullest. Also, the show is a lot of fun to watch.
P.S. #4 Sorry I didn’t blog this sooner, I just knew it would take a while if I wanted to blog it right. :P
P.S. #5 Here is Kristyn’s take on the GLAAD Awards. Here is her great blog on Sean’s Last Wish.
Buberella 
