In terms of participation and winners, the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which took place Aug. 29 on NBC, were one of the most gay-friendly in history.
Out lesbian actress Jane Lynch won for best supporting actress in a comedy for her role as coach Sue Sylvester on the TV series Glee. She kissed her wife upon hearing her name and thanked her as well as her “lord and creator,” openly gay series producer Ryan Murphy. Murphy himself won for directing a comedy (GLEE), while Paris Barclay, who is also out, was nominated in the same category. Murphy thanked “my great partner, Dick Miller” and added, “GLEE is about the importance of arts education, so I would like to dedicate this to all of my teachers, who taught me to sing and finger-paint.”
Eric Stonestreet garnered an award for best supporting actor in a comedy for portraying one half of a gay couple on TV’s Modern Family; openly gay actors Jesse Tyler Ferguson (the other half of the couple) and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) were also nominated. (Harris, who also presented an award, did win an Emmy for his guest-starring role on Glee.)
In addition, Lynch and Chris Colfer (another Glee actor who is openly gay) were part of the opening sequence featuring Emmy host/talk-show host Jimmy Fallon and other TV regulars singing and dancing to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” Also, during his tribute to the series 24, Law & Order and Lost (which have all ended), Fallon dressed as Sir Elton John and sang his own take of “Candle in the Wind” for 24.
Also, Alexander Skarsgard, Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer—the ubiquitous stars of the pansexual drama True Blood—were on hand to present an award. (Incidentally, the bisexual Paquin recently married Moyer.)
Even some of the gossip at the Emmys was gay-related. According to the New York Daily News blog, E! reported a rumor during the pre-Emmys segment that Portia de Rossi, Ellen Degeneres’ wife, might replace Steve Carrell, who is departing from The Office after next season.