The National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association honored Variety editor-in-chief Claudia Eller with the Lisa Ben Award for achievement in features coverage at its benefit on Friday.
Media veterans and LGBTQ allies gathered at the Los Angeles LGBT Center on Friday night to celebrate Eller’s achievements as a longtime Hollywood journalist. Marc Malkin, Variety’s senior film awards, events and lifestyle editor who received the award in 2017, presented Eller with the honor.
“Claudia not only cares deeply about LGBTQ issues, but she also insists and inspires us to cover the issues in powerful and meaningful ways,” Malkin said while giving Eller the award. “Claudia has shown me and our readers that she is committed to storytelling, to finding and identifying voices that should and need to be heard.”
While accepting the honor on stage, Eller said, “I’ve been a journalist for 30 years and am blessed to have as much drive and passion for what I do today as I had when I began my career. And not for one minute do I take lightly the responsibility I have as editor of Variety to bring our readers and social media followers the most relevant and compelling content we can across all our platforms.”
“But honestly, what I’m most passionate about is the opportunity to use Variety’s powerful platform to shine a light on issues that deeply matter to us: inclusion, diversity and gender parity,” she continued. “It remains a top priority of mine to share stories about the LGBTQ community, the injustices suffered by women, people of color and other individuals in the entertainment business who aren’t afforded the same career opportunities as those more fortunate.”
Eller also mentioned the publication’s accolades for its LGBTQ coverage under her leadership, including the GLAAD Media Award for overall magazine coverage of LGBTQ issues. In August, Variety published a cover story package on transgender Hollywood, ran a marriage equality issue in 2015 and will be launching its first Power of Pride issue next month.
“I guarantee you that we have much more to come in the months and years ahead,” Eller said.
