On Saturday, former President Bill Clinton became the inaugural recipient of GLAAD’s “Advocate for Change” award for his advocacy for marriage equality over the past few years. During his speech, Clinton praised GLAAD for their work in helping people better appreciate the lives of LGBT people, and he committed to doing the same until equality is achieved:

CLINTON: I want to keep working on this until not only DOMA is no longer the law of the land, but until all people, no matter where they live, can marry the people they love. For example, when I flew here from New York, I knew I’d still be married when I got here. Heck, I’m going to Texas next week to George W. Bush’s library dedication, and I’ll still be married when I get there. You have helped me come to the place where I am today; that’s why you are the true agents of change.

But we have all learned in our interdependent society in our increasingly interdependent world that whenever people anywhere are denied any rights, it diminishes us all. That’s why we were so gripped to our television after those bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon… And the same is true here. I believe you will win the DOMA fight, and I think you will win the Constitutional right to marry. If not tomorrow, then the next day or the next day.

Watch his full remarks:

Clinton added that his daughter Chelsea and her gay friends had a “profound impact” on how he understands the LGBT community and what it means to treat them equally.

In March, before the Supreme Court heard oral arguments, Clinton wrote that he believed that the Defense of Marriage Act is discriminatory and should be overturned. Still, some — including attendees at the awards ceremony — still criticize Clinton for signing DOMA into law in the first place, an action for which he still has not technically apologized.

At Saturday night’s GLAAD Media Awards, Anderson Cooper accepted the Vito Russo Award, named for the author of The Celluloid Closet, which challenged the inaccurate portrayals of LGBT people in the media. In what is essentially his first public address on LGBT issues since coming out, Cooper paid tribute to Russo and the many other activists who paved the way so that he could do the work he now does:

COOPER: As a gay person, it’s important for me to remember that all of us come from a community whose stories have for too long been forgotten and ignored, a community whose lives have for too long been ridiculed or misrepresented, a community that in spite of all of that has found ways to love and to laugh and to care about one another, a community that has found ways to stand tall and stand up and make ourselves visible.

I know that I’m only able to be on this stage because of generations of gay people who have come before and some of their names are known, but so many more have lived and died in silence, their successes and their sacrifices never recognized in the journals of the day or the history of our times, their lives never even acknowledged, their love hidden in the shadows, hands furtively held in the darkness.

I’ve had many blessings in my life and being gay is certainly one of the greatest blessings. It has allowed me to love and be loved; it’s helped open my head and open my heart in ways that I never could have predicted. The ability to love one another — the ability to love another person is one of God’s greatest gifts and I thank God every day for enabling me to give and share love with people in my life, with my family, my friends, and my partner Benjamin.

Watch it:

At Saturday night’s GLAAD Awards, Madonna arrived dressed as a Boy Scout, telling the cheering audience that she always wanted to join the organization but they wouldn’t let her. After making it clear she believes the Boy Scouts of America should “change their stupid policy,” she went on to defend standing up against anti-LGBT views, even while in Russia, because people will become more comfortable with the LGBT community if they become more familiar with it:

MADONNA: Things like bigotry, homophobia, hate crimes, bullying, and any form of discrimination always seems to be a manifestation of fear of the unknown. Most people are not comfortable with things or people that they perceive as different from themselves. And I would wager that if we just took the time to get to know one another, did our own investigation, looked beneath the surface of things… that we would find that we’re not so different after all.

We are also under the illusion that with the wonder of technologies at our fingertips that the world is coming closer together, that people are becoming more familiar with one another, that the distance between one human and another is being diminished. Now, on one that is true, but on the other hand, it is not true. I believe the opposite is taking place, because a picture doesn’t tell a thousand stories — a picture tells a version of a thousand stories, and this supposed intimacy that we think we are gaining is false. It is unearned, it is a trick.

Watch it:

She went on to explain that all religions teach, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and so religion should not be used to justify hate or discrimination. Madonna is currently fighting a lawsuit from Russian officials for speaking out for LGBT equality at her concert there.

After speaking, Madonna presented an award to Anderson Cooper.

Today, GLAAD delivered 120,000 Change.org petition signatures to the National Geographic Channel urging the television network to denounce the anti-gay policy of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) before tonight’s premiere of Are You Tougher Than A Boy Scout? Gay Eagle Scout Will Oliver helped deliver the petitions and pointed out that National Geographic has a nondiscrimination policy that protects sexual orientation, so it’s hypocritical to not call out the Boy Scouts:

OLIVER: By failing to acknowledge the Boy Scouts’ discriminatory policy, National Geographic Channel is turning a cold shoulder to gay and allied viewers. Silence implies apathy towards all the Scouts and leaders who have been forced to hide who they are. Over 120,000 people have spoken — not to demand that the show be canceled — but to ask that National Geographic Channel reaffirm its core belief in non-discrimination.

According to the BSA’s internal documents, the partnership with National Geographic is part of a plan to make Scouting look “cool” with youth. Oliver believes that Scouting is cool, but is urging the the network to air the following disclaimer before the show airs:

The current membership policy of the Boy Scouts of America goes against the policy of National Geographic Channel and the National Geographic Society. National Geographic Channel is an equal opportunity employer and does not support discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Oliver and GLAAD are meeting with NatGeo executives today, and hopefully a disclaimer like this airs with the show:

This week’s episode of the sitcom Mike & Molly featured an unfortunate “joke” at the expense of transgender people. In the scene, Mike is talking with Carl, his police partner and best friend, about his history of picking up downtrodden women:

CARL: It’s been a long time since I’ve trolled for bus pass ass.

MIKE: (Laughing) Not since the shemale incident of ’08.  You spent the whole night crying and gargling!

CARL: Learned a lot of lessons that night.

Not only is the term “shemale” incredibly offensive, the clear implication of the scene is that being with a person who is trans is both traumatic and disgusting. Humor at the direct expense of a group of people, especially one so targeted for discrimination and violence, is not humor at all.

GLAAD has reached out to CBS, a network that has struggled to depict LGBT people fairly and that often uses trans people as the punchline for “jokes”:

This morning, GLAAD spoke with CBS’s Vice President of Diversity & Communications who is discussing the issues directly with the show.  CBS has also committed to meeting with GLAAD staff to discuss the offensive scene, as well as a number of other incidents on CBS comedies and dramas in the past year that increasingly add up to a disturbing trend.  GLAAD is calling on CBS to put an end to anti-trans content for the sake of a laugh and to treat trans issues with greater sensitivity.

Hopefully CBS offers a thoughtful response and finds a way to incorporate more respectful and authentic portrayals of all LGBT people.

NARTH's Dr. Julie Hamilton was introduced as an "expert."

Dr. Drew was not the only television doctor talking about ex-gay therapy on Wednesday. Dr. Oz dedicated his entire show to the “controversy,” providing ample time to those who profit from the harmful therapy to promote their quackery unchallenged. Representatives from NARTH and People Can Change were presented as “experts” who were offering one side of a debate that the medical community has already settled.

GLAAD, GLSEN, and PFLAG all condemned the episode, explaining how thoroughly the practice of ex-gay therapy had been debunked. GLSEN Executive Director Dr. Eliza Byard participated in the show, but explained that she and other LGBT advocates were not informed NARTH would be represented — let alone featured. During his final thought, Dr. Oz argued that he believed the sides needed to talk to each other, then followed up on his blog that only after the show did he have the epiphany that therapists should affirm gay identities:

Some guests argued that they have been changed thru these treatments, but I was overwhelmed by the pain of individuals hurt by the experience.  After listening to both sides of the issue and after reviewing the available medical data, I agree with the established medical consensus.  I have not found enough published data supporting positive results with gay reparative therapy and I have concerns about the potentially dangerous effects when the therapy fails, especially when minors are forced into treatments.

My biggest epiphany occurred after hearing where the opposing groups found some common ground. The guests who appeared on my show on either side of this debate agreed that entering into any therapy with guilt and self-hate is a major error. Trying to change who you are instead of loving who you are leads to broken spirits and broken hearts. Encouraging self-acceptance is the only way to help alleviate the shame experienced by those who are struggling with their sexuality – and help them reach a place where who they are matches who they want to be.

It should not require an open, unchallenged airing of harmful lies to agree with the established medical consensus. There is no way for self-acceptance and ex-gay therapy to coexist; NARTH and others rely upon shame. Their business depends upon clients having “unwanted sexual attractions” and believing the faulty promise that the attractions can be treated. Because of the visibility of his show and the expertise entrusted in him by his viewers, Dr. Oz performed a massive disservice by treating the issue of ex-gay therapy as an open question.

Clips of the entire episode, as well as post-show reflections from the guests, are available online.

Today marks the third annual Spirit Day, on which individuals wear purple (the color of “spirit” from the Pride Flag) to show solidarity against anti-LGBT bullying and harassment of any kind. It was created in 2010 by a Canadian teenager named Brittany McMillan in response to a spate of suicides that gripped national headlines. ThinkProgress and our colleagues at the Center for American Progress Action Fund are again proud partners of today’s event and have worn purple today to show that bullying does not have a place in a peaceful, progressive society:

A note from Zack Ford, editor of ThinkProgress LGBT:

It’s hard to believe that two years have already passed since we were all first ravaged by the tragic suicides that served as our wake-up call about bullying, and yet it seems like just yesterday. That’s only two years that we’ve had “It Gets Better” as part of our vernacular, only two years that names like Seth Walsh, Justin Aaberg, and Tyler Clementi have been known to us, and only two years that we’ve really taken stock of just how negative our school climates have become. The advent of new technology is not without its consequences, and social media has created a venue for bullying to persist 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for some young people. Such constant negative messages can reinforce depression, lower self-esteem, and create environments devoid of joy, with repercussions for both those inclined to bully and their victims. Given how little we still understand about the full impact of bullying in the modern era, it is likely that we still grossly underestimate the lasting harm it causes for young people when it goes unaddressed.

This was most apparent two me two years ago when I attended the funeral of 14-year-old Brandon Bitner. Brandon’s death hit close to home — literally. He lived just a few towns away from where I grew up in central Pennsylvania, and was a musician studying at the same university where I, too, had taken lessons in high school. Bullied repeatedly for his perceived sexual orientation, Brandon took his own life in the wake of other suicides that had made national news. It was clear from the reactions I witnessed and discussions I heard at his funeral that his community was none the wiser on the issue of bullying from his death, at least not in the immediate. In fact, the pastor’s eulogy did not even mention how Brandon had been treated at school, choosing instead to blame his depression and ignore any of the factors that might have exacerbated it.

Bullying is a very real part of our culture, and it is an injustice to all people of all ages if we try to hide, ignore, or downplay it. Claims that bullying is just a part of growing up are defenses of bullying that allow its torment to persist. Wearing purple for a day might seem like a small act that doesn’t accomplish much, but any opportunity to refresh and refocus our awareness of the bullying epidemic is an important occasion indeed. Promoting respect and understanding is a very long journey that will surely extend beyond any of our lifetimes, but one day of progress toward safer schools and healthier young people is progress nevertheless. I couldn’t be more proud to be part of a team that supports that mission.