MTV To Be Honored At Trevor Live Presented By Audi of America & Wells Fargo

NEW YORK, April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- On Monday, June 25, 2012, MTV will be honored by The Trevor Project with the Trevor 2020 Award at "Trevor Live" presented by Audi of America and Wells Fargo (60 Chelsea Piers, NY, NY). The annual Pride season event benefits the life-saving, life-affirming work of The Trevor Project, a recent honoree of the White House as a Champion of Change for leadership and innovation in suicide prevention.

The Trevor 2020 Award recognizes visionary organizations that increase the visibility and understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) issues and support the LGBTQ community. MTV has been a leader in providing a voice for LGBTQ youth in the media since its founding in 1981. The network broke new ground nearly two decades ago when it introduced the first openly gay person with HIV/AIDS on television with The Real World's Pedro Zamora, whose marriage to his partner was the first same-sex commitment ceremony ever documented on television.   In the last year alone, MTV aired two original documentaries on LGBTQ youth, "Coming Out" and "It Gets Better," working closely with The Trevor Project to ensure safety for both the show's subjects and young people in the audience.  In 2010 MTV was named the #1 network by GLAAD in its Network Responsibility Index for its broad inclusion of the lives of LGBTQ people in its programming.  In addition, through its pro-social efforts, MTV galvanizes young people, whether it's their "Love is Louder" campaign aimed at strengthening emotional health by promoting acceptance, or its "A Thin Line" campaign which has inspired more than a million young people to take action to stop the spread of digital abuse.

"The Trevor Project is proud to honor MTV with the Trevor 2020 Award for their visionary leadership among young people and the media, especially related to LGBTQ people," said Abbe Land, Executive Director and CEO of The Trevor Project. "The teens and young adults who reach out to Trevor sometimes don't know another lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person like them, but they can relate to the characters they have seen on MTV. And in some cases, they found out about Trevor from an MTV blog or show and made a decision to call for help."

"We are deeply honored to be recognized by an organization whose life-saving work we have always admired," said Stephen Friedman, President, MTV. "MTV shares The Trevor Project's vision of a world where sexual orientation and gender identity have no bearing on one's ability to realize their dreams, and we'll continue using all our platforms to advance toward that goal."

Trevor Live presented by Audi of America and Wells Fargo is a signature annual event of The Trevor Project, bringing together top entertainers and corporate leaders to support the organization's life-saving, life-affirming initiatives for LGBTQ youth in crisis. Learn more at TheTrevorProject.org/TrevorLive.

About The Trevor Project
The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning young people under 24. Every day, The Trevor Project saves young lives through its free and confidential lifeline, in-school workshops, educational materials, online resources and advocacy. Honored by the White House as a Champion of Change, The Trevor Project is a leader and innovator in suicide prevention. Learn more at TheTrevorProject.org.

About MTV
MTV is the world's premier youth entertainment brand.  With a global reach of more than a half-billion households, MTV is the cultural home of the millennial generation, music fans and artists, and a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people.  MTV reflects and creates pop culture with its Emmy®, Grammy® and Peabody® award-winning content built around compelling storytelling, music discovery and activism across TV, online and mobile.  MTV's sibling networks MTV2 and mtvU each deliver unparalleled customized content for young males, music fans and college students, and its online hub MTV.com is a leading destination for music, news and pop culture.  MTV is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NASDAQ: VIA, VIAB), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.  For more information, go to www.mtvpress.com.

SOURCE The Trevor Project