Benj Pasek, LCD Soundsystem, among early LGBTQ-inclusive Grammy winners



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Benj Pasek, LCD Soundsystem, among early LGBTQ-inclusive Grammy winners

The Recording Academy

The 60th Annual Grammy Awards took place Sunday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City and the LGBTQ community was well-represented across the board.

Out songwriter and GLAAD board member Justin Tranter, who was nominated for Song of the Year for “Issues” with Julia Michaels, wore the GLAAD ampersand pin on the red carpet, which represents the Together Movement, a symbol of solidarity with other marginalized communities. Justin, along with many other celebs, also wore white roses in support of the Time’s Up movement.

Talking #TIMESUP with @justtranter, songwriting king and @glaad ampersand pin-wearer, nominated for song of the year for @imjmichaels‘ Issues tonight: pic.twitter.com/sbuLFrjfL3

— Maeve McDermott (@maeve_mcdermott) January 28, 2018

Early in the evening, Lady Gaga, shouted out the Time’s Up movement in-between her ballad performances of “Joanne” and “Million Reasons.” Out performer Sam Smith performed his new song “Pray” also early on in the broadcast. 

Lady Gaga shouted out “Time’s Up” during her Grammys performance t.co/YROEzhn7fv

— TIME (@TIME) January 29, 2018

Kendrick Lamar opened the show with a high-energy politically-charged performance of “XXX” which riled up the crowd. “America, God bless you if it’s good to you… Donald Trump’s in office, we lost Barack / And promised to never doubt him again / But is America honest or do we bask in sin?” he rapped. He was later joined by U2 for a performance of their collaboration on the track “American Soul.”

Although only 10 categories are announced during the live broadcast, the winners of the remaining 74 categories were announced earlier in the evening. One of the first LGBTQ winners was musical theater songwriter Benj Pasek, who along with songwriting partner Justin Paul, won the Best Musical Theater Album category for the soundtrack to the hit Broadway show “Dear Evan Hansen.”

LCD Soundsystem won the Grammy for Best Dance Recording for “Tonite.” Gavin Russom, who plays synths in the band, identifies as transgender.

The late Carrie Fisher, an ally for many years to the LGBTQ community, won a posthumous Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for “The Princess Diarist.” Carrie presented the Vanguard Award to her stepmother Elizabeth Taylor at the 11th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in 2000. 

“La La Land” won a Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. The album’s music supervisor Steven Gizicki is an out, gay man.

One of the hot categories of the night was the Best Pop Solo Performance category, in which Lady Gaga and Kesha, both of whom identify as bisexual, competed against each other for “Million Reasons” and “Praying,” respectively. They both lost to Ed Sheeran, who won for “Shape of You.” Other LGBTQ nominees who did not win include Kehlani, Sia, and out country songwriter Shane McAnally.

It was the first time the Grammys had returned to the city after calling Los Angeles home for many years. The ceremony will return to LA again next.

Keep checking back here for all of the Grammy action throughout the evening!

For a full list of winners, head to Grammy.com.

January 28, 2018
Issues: 

www.glaad.org/blog/benj-pasek-lcd-soundsystem-among-early-lgbtq-inclusive-grammy-winners


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