Katy Butler, 'Dancing With the Stars,' Lady Gaga, Anderson Cooper Among Those Honored at 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards

Photo by Mike Coppola/WireImage for GLAAD

Although the major GLAAD awards--such as "Outstanding Comedy Series" and "Outstanding Film - Wide Release"--will not be announced until April 21 in Los Angeles, there were still some recognizable faces at the 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York this weekend. (See a full list of Saturday's award winners, including Out and The Advocatehere.)

Saturday night, the red carpet at Manhattan's Marriot Marquis was full of both TV faves (Carson Kressley, Wendy Williams) and notable media figures (Katy Butler, Zach Wahls). Butler, who received a Special Recognition Award for petitioning the MPAA to reverse their 'R' rating for the documentary Bully, thought it was "absolutely incredible" to be at the ceremony. Butler, an openly-lesbian high school junior, said that she was bullied in middle school herself and that she felt strongly about the need for the documentary to reach a wide audience.

Wahls did not receive an award Saturday, but he did show up to represent a nominated segment of The Ellen DeGeneres Show in which he appeared. Wahls, known for a viral video in which he passionately talked about his lesbian parents in front of the Iowa senate, has recently finished writing a memoir (My Two Moms) which is set to be released this April.

"So many families get told by politicians that there's something wrong with gay marriage," he said. "So the book is really an attempt to tell those other families that you're not alone, that you're doing okay, and with enough effort, your kids are going to be just fine."

The awards ceremony, hosted by Glee's Corey Monteith and Naya Rivera, included wins for Lady Gaga ("Outstanding Music Artist") and Dancing with the Stars ("Outstanding Reality Program"), as well as for Smash producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron. Zadan and Meron, who also exec-produced the film versions of Chicago and Hairspray, won the Vito Russo award for promoting equality in the LGBT community.

"We had no idea of the impact we were making on the LGBT community. We told stories that we thought should be told," said Meron. "When we got this honor, and looked back at the body of work we've done...it was very, very gratifying."

Mike Thompson, the acting president of GLAAD, said that Zadan and Meron were chosen for their efforts to bring fair and accurate depictions of LGBT people to the American public.

"Neil and Craig are just so wonderful in what they've done on the stage and on the screen in helping people see the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people," said Thompson. "They've created characters which make people think, 'There's such of a sense of normalcy about this character.'"

One of the liveliest moments of the awards ceremony was a staged "Kiss-Off" between Rivera and Monteith. When actor John Stamos began bidding on a kiss with Corey, things got a little silly. Eventually, when it reached $5,000, Stamos jumped up on stage and said, "I've already kissed Corey. That's how I got on Glee: Kissing Corey for free." He ended up auctioning off a kiss for $5,000 to another attendee and Megan Hilty (from Smash) ended up standing in and kissing Monteith. See the clip below.