Photos

Comment on this Article

Recent Articles  

Shop on ChicagoPride.com

2007 Academy Awards offer up a gay ole' time

Los Angeles, CA — From Melissa Etheridge shutting out all three Dreamgirls to take home Best Original Song of the year to Ellen DeGeneres making a plea for Jennifer Hudson and Al Gore in 2007, it may not have been a Brokeback year at the Oscars, but gays and lesbians made out just fine at the 2007 Academy Awards. 

Having soaked in the 2007 ceremony with a room full of gays and lesbians at West Hollywood's trendy East/West Lounge at an event hosted by D.I.V.A. and sponsored by here! Networks, Andrew Christian, The Ellen Show and a slew of other companies, its safe to say this year's ceremony was a gay to do to remember. 

Hosted by Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez, who offered commentary on everything from Jennifer Hudson's win ("I can die a happy gay") to John Travolta saying he likes curvy women (… with a big dick"), the event was a rousing success, full of colorful commentary and catty remarks. 

For the most part, the evening's big awards were predictable enough—Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker won for Best Actress and Actor for The Queen and The Last King of Scotland, respectively, while Hudson took home the supporting trophy. But in the Supporting Actor category, Little Miss Sunshine's Alan Arkin staged an upset, scoring his first win and beating Dreamgirls' Eddie Murphy. 

The evening also awarded a first Oscar to filmmaking legend Martin Scorsese, who took home the trophy for Best Director for The Departed. After asking the presenters to "check the envelope", Marty also took home a trophy for Best Picture. 

Oscar tried a new format this year, waiting until the last hour to hand out trophies in all the major categories. The strategy delivered mixed results, offering DeGeneres more time and fodder with which to play but forcing audiences to sit through a glut of technical awards before getting to the meat and potatoes. 

A high point—Leonardo Di Caprio and Al Gore sharing an inspired speech on Oscar going green this year, right before Leo tried to prompt Al to make an emotional announcement… during which the band played him off. 

A team of interpretive dancers also helped to move the evening along, doing brief pantomime dances to the evening's Best Original Score nominees. The dancers formed a high heel for The Devil Wears Prada and a gun for The Departed. 

But the evening's highlight came when DeGeneres pointed that America didn't vote for Hudson and she scored an Academy Award nomination, yet we did vote for Gore, and he too scored a nomination. 

For a complete list of winners, visit www.Oscar.com.

By Ross von Metzke

"Oscar®," "Oscars®," Academy Awards®," "Academy Award®," "A.M.P.A.S.®" and "Oscar Night®" are the trademarks, and the "Oscar®" statuette is the registered design mark and copyrighted property, of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. 
Article provided in partnership with GayWebMonkey.com.