Adamo Ruggiero is one of the stars of Degrassi, a grossly under appreciated Canadian tv show that gets more love in other parts of the world than it does at home. Adamo came out  earlier this year on his own terms and was invited to present at the GLAAD Awards at the Kodak Theatre on Saturday night.

Degrassi was nominated for best drama series and ended up losing out to Brothers and Sisters but the crowd went bananas when Degrassi was announced and similarly the crowd went bananas when Adamo took the stage. Adamo spoke briefly about his decision and later on, as Rufus Wainwright was accepting the Stephen F Kolzak Award, he announced that:

"I"m giving up my music career and taking up a role on Degrassi".

People lost their sh*t.

Throughout the night, Adamo was warmly received by many industry heavyweights all expressing their admiration for his choices.

And why the admiration?

As Adamo recently said himself in an interview, being gay is still an enormous challenge these days in showbiz, perhaps even more so.

Because Hollywood is about money. And what is making money right now is Family Programming. Family Programming is supported by the MiniVan Majority - households run by parents who believe in picket fences, 2.3 children, capri pants, and criticising mothers who do the unthinkable and take their kids to McDonalds.

How the f&ck else can you explain why Wild Hogs made a killing at the box office?

And still… in spite of the current climate of conservatism, Adamo Ruggiero chose to declare his gay. An attractive YOUNG male star of a hit teen show with a not insignificant female following who is striving for what will hopefully be a long career in showbiz courageously announced his homosexuality. A young actor coming out at 22 is totally different from a seasoned actor coming out in his 30s.

So yeah… it’s a big f&cking deal.

Well then no wonder they loved Adamo. Hello Canada: do you love Adamo? A new episode of Degrassi airs Monday night on CTV. Speaking of Lauren Collins – she absolutely shines in this one.

Lauren is wearing jewellery by Canadian designer Lucy Kilislian and both had makeup by Stila Cosmetics.