Last night at New York’s XL nightclub was the 2012 GLAAD Amplifier Awards, honoring the best in LGBT-inclusive advertising, marketing and PR. Out actor Wilson Cruz emceed the chichi event, which was co-sponsored by GayCities and included appearances by The Fabulous Beekman Boys, Trick‘s Christian Campbell, America’s Next Top Model contestant Isis King, television personality Jonathan D. Lovitz, Million Dollar Listing‘s Ryan Serhant, Real Housewives of New York‘s Ramona Singer and Aviva Drescher, People.com’s Janet Mock (at right, above, with King and Cruz), as well as The Six Pack‘s Ben Harvey and Dave Rubin, singer/songwriter Alex Davis, and RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants Carmen Carrera, Jiggly Caliente, Mimi ImFurst and Phi Phi O’Hara.
This year’s nominees included major commercial brands like Johnson & Johnson, JC Penney, Ray-Ban, General Motors, Lexus, Orbitz, Absolut Vodka, Amtrak, Marriott, Allstate, Kraft, Wells Fargo and American Apparel. JC Penney was the big winner of the evening, taking home the Hot Spot Award for mainstream-market advertising for its groundbreaking “First Pals” ad featuring gay dads Todd Koch and Cooper Smith Koch and their kids. (For a full list of winners, click here)
Cruz, recently appointed Strategic Giving Officer for GLAAD, began the night with a short tribute to Sahara Davenport, whose unexpected death was the talk of the evening. This time last year, Davenport and partner Manila Luzon walked arm-in-arm down the red carpet at the Amplifier Awards (right).
Photos: Jeffrey James Keyes
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Carmen Carrera, Jiggly Caliente, Mimi ImFurst and Phi Phi O’Hara.
Christian Campbell and Ryan Serhant address audience at GLAAD Amplifier Awards
Ben Harvey and GM’s Joe LaMuraglia
Epiphany
Real Housewives of New York‘s Aviva Drescher
Real Housewives’ Ramona Singer
Josh Kilmer-Purcel and Brent Ridge, a.k.a. The Fabulous Beekman Boys
Isis King
Million Dollar Listing’s Ryan Serhant
Phi Phi O’hara
Wilson Cruz
Mimi Imfurst
Carmen Carrera
Jonathan D. Lovitz and Zachary Schmahl
Singer Alex Davis
Marti Gould Cummings
Christian Campbell
GayCities communications strategist Oscar Raymundo flanked by his crew
Mjl-428
Wilson Cruz is a cute little thing 😉
Eric Auerbach
Jiggly is out-posing every other bitch in that picture.
Clarissa Blaha
I just have to give props to JC Penney for sticking to their guns with the “First Pals” ad after the One Million Moms bullshit when Ellen was chosen to represent their brand. I tweeted @1milmoms and @jcpenney that I intended to shop at JC Penney for all of the gifts for my Mom’s birthday (it was coming up at the time of the backlash) and I did just that. I mean it’s not world-changing like Act-Up, but we can still be vocal and support brands who have the decency to do what is right in the face of opposition.
Rockery
C Campbell.. I don’t know much about him but I know I love “Trick” I acutally bought a real DVD because I loved it so much
I’m no expert in drag, but I think Mimi imfurst is due for a makeover…