PFLAG National To Fete NBC’s ‘The New Normal’ At Third Annual Southern California Event

Nation's largest family and straight ally organization--now in its 40th anniversary year--will honor NBC's comedy hit 'The new Normal' at their third annual LA-based event.

PFLAG National (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)—the nation’s largest grassroots-based non-profit for families, friends, and straight allies of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people—will honor the cast and Executive Producers of NBC’s ‘The New Normal’ at the 2012 Southern California Event to be held on Sunday, October 14th at 5:00PM at the Krol family home in Beverly Hills.

The event, now in its third year, honors people and projects in the entertainment industry who speak out—through their words and their work—in support of LGBT equality. The 2012 Host Committee includes Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Betty DeGeneres, Congressman Howard Berman, Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel, and Leila Lambert (who was honored last year along with her son, Adam Lambert).

This year’s honoree, The New Normal, centers on Bryan (Andrew Rannells, Girls, The Book of Mormon) and David (Justin Bartha, The Hangover) a Los Angeles couple with successful careers and a committed, loving partnership, who are trying to start a family with the help of Goldie (Georgia King, One Day), a young single mother looking to escape her dead-end life and small-minded grandmother (Emmy Award and Tony Award-winner Ellen Barkin). Desperate and broke—but also fertile—Goldie becomes the couple’s surrogate.

“This show was a natural fit for our Southern California honors this year,” said Jody M. Huckaby, Executive Director of PFLAG National. “It enlightens as it entertains, and expands the general public’s understanding of the many different types of families—families with two dads, single-parent families, multigenerational families, multiracial families—that already exist in their own communities. The New Normal elevates the stories of our LGBT loved ones so that everyone will know that what some people refer to as ‘the new normal’ is just ‘family’ to us at PFLAG.”

The New Normal  star Justin Bartha stated “It just portrays a family that seemed to be a modern type of family. Not to compare the show, but it is the new normal. It’s not going to be the new normal. It’s what people are going through now. So the correctness of it is just that it is true.”

And as Georgia King, as Goldie, so eloquently stated in the pilot, “A family is a family. And love is love.”

Ryan Murphy—who was honored by PFLAG National at their 2010 event (then called The LA Event)—serves as Creator/Executive Producer and Director along with Creator/Executive Producer Ali Adler (Glee, Chuck) and Executive Producer Dante Di Loreto (Glee, American Horror Story). The New Normal is produced by 20th Century Fox Television and Ryan Murphy Productions.

To learn more about the event, visit www.pflag.org/socal2012. To learn more about The New Normal, visit www.nbc.com/thenewnormal.