On Friday, May 2nd, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis appeared on ABC’s The View. The segment started with Joy Behar sharing that The View was proud to accept the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Episode at the 36th Annual GLAAD Media Awards.
The episode, premiering in July of 2024 featured a powerful interview with trans actor Elliot Page from Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy. Their conversation ranged from Page’s character on the show, his memoir Pageboy, and the record high number of anti-LGBTQ pieces of legislation being passed in this country and what allies can do to help. Watch the full segment here:
Ellis presented hosts Behar, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin with the award and shared a bit about the GLAAD Media Awards. “We do this annually and we recognize people across all media who are telling LGBTQ stories, because it’s more important than ever.” She continued, “You won in the Outstanding Talk Show and Variety category for your interview with Elliot Page on trans visibility.”
She congratulated the entire cast and crew and thanked them for bringing such important stories to millions of televisions nationwide. This is The View’s second GLAAD Media Award win and 9th nomination.
“That means so much to us collectively right now in the times that we’re living,” Ana Navarro said. “You’ve been the president and CEO of GLAAD for over 10 years and you were a media executive before that. So, you know a thing or two about representation.” Navarro continued, “Can you talk about why it’s so important for all of us to continue shining a light on the LGBTQ community, particularly now?”
“As you can tell in society right now, the LGBTQ community has been under attack,” Ellis responded. “LGBTQ people are in every family, we’re in every workplace, we’re in every church, and telling stories brings people together. It doesn’t separate and divide people.”
Ellis went on to say, “We all need to be treated with respect and humanity and have equal rights and we don’t still in this country. So, I think by storytelling, we bring people together. You can’t hate someone whose story you know.”
Sara Haines reminded everyone that, “We’re all human souls.” She then began discussing the passing of Pope Francis and his positive impact on the LGBTQ community. “I understand you got to meet him twice, what was it like to speak to him?”
“He was a phenomenal, phenomenal person. He wanted to hear our stories,” Ellis began. “One time I told him the story about how my wife and I had to leave the Catholic Church because our kids were born and we couldn’t baptize them.”
She continued, “He put his head down and he said ‘that’s not right.’ Then very soon after is when he announced that same-sex couples should be blessed. Stories have power.”
In 2024, Ellis was invited to visit Pope Francis a second time to talk about transgender issues. “For that 2nd visit, I brought 4 transgender people with me because he hadn’t sat down and heard trans stories.” Ellis continued, “He was moved by those stories.”
Ellis then explained that at the end of every meeting with the Pope, he hands out gendered rosary beads. She was moved by the fact that, “He gave the transgender folks the gender that they are living. And to me what it signaled is if the Pope can recognize them for who they are, why can’t the rest of the world?”
To close, Ellis thanked The View team again for all they do to elevate LGBTQ stories in the mainstream media.”I just want to say that what you use this table to do is a great bridge builder, so thank you so much. And thanks for telling these stories.
Watch The View weekday mornings on ABC and available for streaming on Hulu.
