Tony and Emmy winner Kristin Chenoweth has for several years now drawn criticism from certain religious groups for using her Christian faith to speak out on behalf of gay rights. Now more criticism is sure to arise as it was announced today that Chenoweth will be presented with an award from GLAAD – the leading gay activist group in the country -this spring in Los Angeles. She is receiving the award for increasing the visibility and understanding of the LGBT community.

The most likely reason for this year’s recognition is the actress’s scathing rebuttal last year to a columist who mentioned her Broadway co-star Sean Hayes was not believable as a heterosexual boyfriend on stage because he is openly gay in real life.
For Christians who want to spew outrage in Chenoweth’s direction, they should probably save their time and energy. Her days of justifying herself to the church community at large over this issue seems to have ended several years ago and Chenoweth herself is thrilled with the award, having tweeted earlier today, “I am proud to be honored by @GLAAD with the Vanguard Award.”