Today, GLAAD announced that Emmy®-nominated showrunner, writer, director, producer, and actor Dan Levy will be honored with the Davidson/Valentini Award at the 2019 GLAAD Gala San Francisco on September 28th. GLAAD’s Davidson/Valentini Award is presented to an LGBTQ media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting acceptance for the LGBTQ community. 

Dan Levy is best known for his work on the groundbreaking comedy series, Schitt’s Creek, which he co-created with his father, Eugene Levy. In addition to being the co-creator, showrunner, executive producer, and writer of Schitt’s Creek, Levy stars as the hilarious David Rose, one of the first openly pansexual characters depicted on television. Schitt’s Creek airs on CBC in Canada and Pop TV in the United States.

“Through his work on-screen and behind the scenes of Schitt’s Creek, Dan Levy moves LGBTQ visibility on television forward in humorous, compelling, and necessary ways,” says Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD. “By featuring and celebrating a pansexual character, Dan and Schitt’s Creek are expanding representation of the spectrum of idenities within the LGBTQ community in a way that other content creators should model. Dan has been such a powerful advocate throughout his career, and continues to use his platform to uplift and inspire LGBTQ youth.”

Schitt’s Creek has earned its fair share of accolades just this year alone, boasting four Emmy® nominations, a TCA Award nomination for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy and a GLAAD Media Awards nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. Levy also won Best Comedic Performance at the MTV Movie & TV Awards for his role on the show, as well as a Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy. In total, the show has garnered nearly two dozen awards and more than 50 nominations.

Levy, who identifies as a gay man, has consistently been recognized as a trailblazer in the LGBTQ community. In 2015, Levy was included in the OUT 100 list, a spotlight on the LGBTQ community’s brightest voices. In 2017, Levy used his online platform to call out a Globe & Mail reporter for using “offensive, irresponsible, and homophobic” language to describe him, and sent a message of positivity and love to youth who have ever been criticized for being different. In 2018, Levy and Schitt’s Creek created an online fundraiser called “Fight For Our Future,” which raised money for GLAAD to “continue to fight for the rights of LGBTQ people everywhere.” In June 2019, Levy was also honored in Queerty’s Pride50, a list of “50 trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people.” This year on Levy’s birthday on August 9, Schitt’s Creek fans raised over $20,000 for the LGBT Youth Line in Ontario, Canada, which will go towards providing resources to LGBTQ youth in rural areas and indigenous communities across the province. 

Previous recipients of the Davidson/Valentini Award include Ross Mathews, Don Lemon, Lee Daniels, Adam Lambert, Hannah Hart, Sandra Bernhard, Alec Mapa, Tyler Oakley, B.D. Wong, and Ilene Chaiken, among others.

The GLAAD Gala San Francisco celebrates and features storytellers and tech innovators who accelerate LGBTQ acceptance and helps fund GLAAD’s digital advocacy work to grow LGBTQ inclusion in digital and social media. 

The 2019 GLAAD Gala San Francisco, which will be hosted by RuPaul’s Drag Race and Broadway star Peppermint, will take place at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco on September 28th. For more information on the event, including how to purchase tickets, visit www.glaad.org/events/2019-san-francisco-gala. 

The 2019 GLAAD Gala San Francisco is presented by Gilead, Ketel One Family-Made Vodka & Wells Fargo, with official partner Google.