Writer, producer and director Greg Berlanti, who has long helped increase LGBTQ+ visibility in television, was presented the Governors Award at Sunday’s Emmys ceremony. The award is given to creators who make a “profound, transformational and long-lasting contribution” to television.
Berlanti was introduced by Matt Bomer, who co-starred alongside Jonathan Bailey in the gay romance thriller “Fellow Travelers,” and Joshua Jackson, an alum of teen drama series “Dawson’s Creek” — on which Berlanti served as a staff writer, and later, an executive producer.
“I wanted to be a part of television even before I knew that was possible,” Berlanti said while accepting the honor Sunday night. “Now, there wasn’t [sic] a lot of gay characters on television back then, and I was a closeted gay kid, and it’s hard to describe how lonely that was at the time.”
But then came the initial reports of AIDS, Berlanti said, and he saw openly gay men on TV for the first time.
“Too many were dying, but they were also in the streets. Men holding hands with other men, marching and fighting for their lives — and they gave me hope that I might one day have their courage to come out and share my truth with the world.”
With the support of his mother, who landed Berlanti his first gig as a young puppeteer, as well as “teachers and friends and representatives and executives across the years,” the veteran gay producer went on to champion LGBTQ stories in myriad TV shows, including “Brothers & Sisters,” “Arrow,” and “Riverdale.”
And, as Jackson recalled, “Dawson’s Creek” made history in 2000 by showing the first onscreen gay kiss between teenagers in prime time.
Berlanti got a standing ovation as he received his award.