GLAAD S.F. Gala to Honor Kim (Samantha) Cattrall

GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, celebrates 25 years as the media advocate and watchdog for the LGBT community. This year's star-studded GLAAD Media Awards on Sat., May 14, at the Marriot Marquis will honor high-profile LGBT films and advocates, including Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall.

Glee's Naya Rivera, who plays the recently out cheerleader Santana, will host the event, which will also honor out tech columnist Kara Swisher and corporate ally AT&T. Special guests will include Mario Lopez, Grey's Anatomy 's Sara Ramirez, Oscar-winning Milk writer Dustin Lance Black, Oscar-nominated The Kids Are All Right writer/director Lisa Cholodenko, hunky rugby icon Ben Cohen, Tabatha Coffey (Tabatha's Salon Takeover), Louis Van Amstel (Dancing with the Stars) and True Blood 's Nelsan Ellis, among others.

It's hard to tell whether Cattrall's Sex and the City character Samantha has inspired or was inspired by legions of gay men, but the actress is being honored with the Golden Gate Award for her personal and professional work. According to GLAAD president Jarrett Barrios, "Kim Cattrall has not only grown acceptance of our community through storylines on shows like Sex and the City, but used her platform to speak out for equality."

The recognition of Cattrall's work for the LGBT community comes after an interview with The Advocate in which she spoke about her support for marriage equality for gay people. She is also recognized for her part in a SATC storyline during which Samantha has a lesbian relationship with her friend Maria.

Cattrall acknowledges her debt to her gay male fans. "Where would I be without gay men? I love gay men." Although most gay men recognize her as Samantha, she says, "Some know me from [the 1987 film] Mannequin, and some know Big Trouble in Little China. Some know me just from my theater work. I have a couple of gentlemen who traveled all the way from New York to Liverpool to see me in Antony and Cleopatra . I'm overwhelmed that someone cares enough to follow me where my career goes."

In Cattrall's recent independent film Meet Monica Velour, she plays an over-the-hill (and slightly overweight) porn star who's struggling as a single mom to make ends meet. The role couldn't be further from the high-powered, oversexed Samantha.

Also representing the gay-friendly film community at the GLAAD Media Awards is screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, whose career has skyrocketed since winning the Oscar for Milk. Black worked on the GLAAD-nominated documentary 8: The Mormon Proposition. "I was contacted by the film's director Reed Cowan to narrate the film," he says. "I was a kid just like him who grew up in the Mormon Church, and I ended up collaborating with him on the film. It was important to me not to mock the religion, but to hold them accountable for what they did in backing that proposition. My goal was to make it fair and honest, not religion-bashing."

Black had always been involved in the struggle for LGBT equality. "But after Milk, the Oscar, and my acceptance speech, more people have been listening. In Hollywood, more people are also willing to take my calls and hear my pitches." One of those people was Clint Eastwood, who recently finished directing J. Edgar, Black's biopic of closeted FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover. The film, set to open next fall, stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Hoover, and The Social Network's Armie Hammer as his reported lover, Clyde Tolson.

"I wanted to explore what happens to a powerful man who was closeted," says Black. "Without Milk, no one would have listened." He describes working with Eastwood as a writer's dream. "He wanted to include me, I was on the set every day, and he was so interested in the history. Leo knocked it out of the park. He worked incredibly hard, and he's one of the best actors we have. And I love Armie. He's a great guy, a real rising star, and he's not hard to look at, either."

For its portrayal of yet another aspect of the gay experience, it's not a stretch to predict that J. Edgar may be among the nominees for next year's GLAAD Media Awards. In the meantime, Saturday night's event will celebrate the strides made in the media over this past year by LGBT artists and allies, and the social changes that have been made over the 25-year history of GLAAD.