Kelly Ripa to be honored at the 26th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York

NEW YORK, NY – GLAAD, the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization, today announced it will honor actress and Emmy Award-winning talk show host Kelly Ripa at the 26th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York at the Waldorf Astoria New York on May 9, 2015.

Ripa will receive GLAAD's Excellence in Media Award, which is presented to media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equality.  Previous Excellence in Media Award honorees include Russell Simmons, Tyra Banks, Judy Shepard, Julianne Moore, Glenn Close, Barbara Walters, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Diane Sawyer, and Vanessa Redgrave.

Emmy and GLAAD Media Award-winning journalist Anderson Cooper will present Ripa with the award. Cooper previously received GLAAD’s Vito Russo Award in 2013.

The 26^th Annual GLAAD Media Awards are presented by Delta Air Lines, Hilton, Ketel One Vodka, and Wells Fargo; and Official Presenting Partners Amazon and Bud Light. The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives. The GLAAD Media Awards also fund GLAAD's work to amplify stories from the LGBT community and issues that build support for equality.

As the co-host of LIVE with Kelly and Michael, Ripa has shared the daily lives of LGBT Americans with morning audiences across the country. By simply talking about her many friends' daily lives and sharing her experiences with viewers, Ripa has become an outspoken ally to the LGBT community. Through her daily morning discussions with co-host Michael Strahan and interviews of LGBT guests and allies, she has voiced, her support of marriage equality, sent messages of hope to LGBT youth, and spoken about the importance of LGBT representations in entertainment media.

In addition to discussing LGBT issues on LIVE, Ripa has participated in GLAAD’s Spirit Day campaign to raise awareness about the disproportionate rates of bullying facing LGBT youth. In 2010, when co-hosting the Point Foundation's Point Honors event with  friend Andy Cohen, she took the opportunity to send a message of support to LGBT youth, also telling parents around the country to be supporting of their children.

Ripa and her husband Mark Consuelos are also executive producers of Logo's Secret Guide to Fabulous, in which gay co-hosts Rob Younkers, John Gidding, and Theodore Leaf, help everyday people enhance their daily lives. The show’s second season premieres this summer.

Prior to co-hosting LIVE, Ripa portrayed Hayley Vaughan on ABC's All My Children. She also starred in Hope & Faith as an unemployed ex-soap star who has to move in with her sister and her family.

"For over a decade, Kelly Ripa has greeted millions of viewers with messages of acceptance and inclusion," said GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. "By sharing inclusive stories with her audience and loudly voicing support for her LGBT friends and fans, Kelly is helping to drive acceptance forward."

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community and the issues that affect their lives. The GLAAD Media Awards also fund GLAAD's work to amplify stories from the LGBT community and issues that build support for equality.

GLAAD previously announced journalist and MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts will receive the Vito Russo Award the New York event, comedian Ross Matthews will host. Other guests announced include: Jeffrey Tambor, Judith Light (Transparent); Jonathan Groff (Looking); Laverne Cox (Orange Is the New Black); Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt); Rupert Friend (Homeland); Leslee Man (The Other Woman); out NBA player Jason Collins; and GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. Additional guests for the New York event will be announced.

In January, GLAAD announced 104 nominees in 21 English-language categories, and 40 Spanish-language nominees in 10 categories. Nominees for the 26th Annual GLAAD Media Awards can be found here: www.glaad.org/mediaawards/nominees. Several award recipients were announced at the Los Angeles event. A list of award recipients is available here: /mediaawards/26/recap. GLAAD presented the Vanguard Award to actress Kerry Washington and the Stephen F. Kolzak Award to out director Roland Emmerich at the Los Angeles GLAAD Media Awards on March 21 at the Beverly Hilton.

To receive the latest updates on the GLAAD Media Awards, follow @glaad on Twitter and use the hashtag #glaadawards.

The 26th Annual GLAAD Media Awards is presented by Delta Air Lines, Hilton, Ketel One Vodka, and Wells Fargo; and Official Presenting Partners Amazon and Bud Light.  GLAAD also thanks this year's corporate partners, which include: Titanium Partners- 21st Century Fox, ABC-Disney Television Group and Southwest Airlines; Platinum Partners- Allstate Insurance Company, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Comcast/NBC Universal, Facebook, HBO, NBA, WNBA, PwC, Sheppard Mullin, Time Warner and Viacom;  Gold Partners- CBS/Showtime, Nielsen, Omnicom, UM Worldwide, Univision, Westfield, and WWE; and Silver Partners- Bloomberg, Carat, Citi, Discovery Life, MLB, NFL, Skadden and US Bank. For a full list of corporate partners and information on how to become a corporate partner, purchase tickets, and place a tribute in the tribute book, please visit www.glaad.org/mediaawards.