As the cherry on top of the 2013/2014 awards season, celebs, industry execs and L.A.-area members of the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (GALECA) gathered last Sunday at Hollywood’s The Pikey Café and Bar to toast the group’s annual picks for the best in TV and film.
Click here to see the full list of GALECA’s 2014 Dorian Awards recipients.
Lea Delaria (pictured above) of the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black accepted the show’s two Dorian Awards—for TV Drama of the Year and LGBT Drama of the Year. She got laughs from eventgoers when she said the prison depicted on OITNB was “like a big lesbian bar.”
Another Winners Toast gues was rising film star Val Lauren, who played Sal Mineo in James Franco’s experimental bioflick Sal and costarred in Franco’s Interior. Leather Bar. Lauren accepted the year’s Wilde Artist of the Year Award on behalf of Franco and shared behind-the-scenes details of Sal. According to Lauren, he and Franco were drawn to groundbreakers like Sal Mineo, who didn’t “believe in being constricted by labels.”
Shane Bitney Crone, subject and producer of the acclaimed doc Bridegroom, accepted that film’s Dorian Award for Documentary of the Year. Bridegroom, documented Crone’s loss of his companion Tom Bridegroom and his battle for the rights and respect given any widower. Crone’s good friend Coleen McMahon, writer and singer of the film’s ballad “Beautiful Boy,” was at his side.
Sunday’s informal event was hosted by Blair Late (also pictured above), a star of the Bravo reality show Newlyweds: The First Year.
After the quick ceremony, Sam Harris—showman and Star Search icon—surprised the crowd by reading an except from Ham: Slices of a Life, his acclaimed new memoir, about what it was like to attend his friend Liza Minnelli’s wedding to David Gest.
GALECA and its Dorian Awards, founded in 2009 by Us Weekly TV critic John Griffiths, honor movies and TV programs—from “mainstream” to LGBT-themed—with categories ranging from Film of the Year to TV Performance of the Year to Campy Flick of the Year. The organization is comprised of over 90 established film and TV critics, as well as entertainment journalists and editors who cover those fields, for recognized media outlets accessible in the U.S.
Photos below by Francois Palais/Francois Palais Photography
Lea Delaria and OITNB exec producer Lisa Vinnecour score a pic
“Champagne and pomme frites” was the bubbly theme of GALECA’s Winners Toast
Shane Bitney Crone and Lea Delaria hug the Dorian Awards for Bridegroom and OITNB
Indie movie heartthrob Val Lauren accepts for James Franco at GALECA’s Winners Toast
Bridegroom subject and activist Shane Bitney Crone, “Beautiful Boy” singer Coleen McMahon and emcee Blair Late are GALECA toast-worthy
Emcee Blair Late of Bravo’s Newlyweds: The First Year (far right) gets cozy with a couple of attendees
Frontiers‘ own Kevin Taft and Brenna Smith of PBS’s movie-review show Just Seen It enjoy champagne and frites