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The 1st Annual Lesbian/Bi People’s Choice Awards Winners

In our first ever Lesbian/Bi People’s Choice Awards, we gave AfterEllen.com readers the chance to weigh in on categories like Best Female Movie Star and Favorite Lesbian/Bi Reality Contestant – and did you have opinions! We must say, you have great taste – even when it comes to Worst Movie.

Now, after 10 days of polling and thousands of votes cast, we have the winners. The star of two hit films this year (Julie & Julia, It’s Complicated), Meryl Streep even beat herself out for a Golden Globe. The 60-year-old actress won over most AE readers, with Whip It star Ellen Page at a somewhat close second. Among the “Other” write-in candidates, there was a lot of love for Angelina Jolie, Sandra Bullock, and Megan Fox. Starring as John Dillinger in the Chicago mob flick Public Enemies put Johnny Depp way ahead of the pack. Even Brad Pitt couldn’t break the 15% mark up against Johnny.

Despite not being a smash with critics, AfterEllen.com readers loved Drew Barrymore‘s directorial debut about roller derby. With a cast including Drew, Ellen Page, Alia Shawkat, Kristen Wiig, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis and Zoe Bell, Whip It was the girl power film of the year. Popular write-in votes included 500 Days of Summer, Blind Side, and Inglourious Basterds. With an attempted “funny” sexual assault scene, Observe and Report gets a resounding “ick” from AE readers. By just a few votes, it edged out the disappointing Jennifer’s Body starring Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried. Diablo Cody was either trying too hard or not hard enough – and we heard way too much about the “girl-on-girl” kiss before the movie hit theaters.

Callie and Arizona are network television’s lesbian “It” couple, and not just because they are network television’s only lesbian couple. Sara Ramirez has played the part of Dr. Callie Torres so well that we can overlook the times when Grey’s Anatomy gets too straight sappy (see Sandra Oh, at the bottom of the list). Popular write-ins included Jessica Capshaw (Arizona in Grey’s Anatomy), Emily Deschanel (Bones), and Olivia Wilde (House). Glee‘s Sue Sylvester took away the prize as the most hilarious woman on TV. It’s just a bonus that Jane Lynch is also an openly gay actress, who nails every part she plays. Don’t worry, Tina – we still love you.

Despite our jealousy over the fact that David Boreanaz works closely with Emily Deschanel on Bones, we can’t help but love their camaraderie on the forensic drama – and his Joss Whedon connection doesn’t hurt either. Dexter‘s Michael C. Hall in second place only proves that when we like men, we like them kind of creepy. Both Hugh Laurie (House) and Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy) received an impressive number of write-in votes. After winning Golden Globes, Emmys and AfterElton.com’s Big Gay Battle, the only thing else Neil Patrick Harris has left to conquer was our category of Favorite Male TV Star (Comedy). His super smarmy role on How I Met Your Mother has won our hearts – especially knowing how great of an actor he has to be in order to pretend to dig women.

Despite being the gayest show on cable, True Blood couldn’t beat out Grey’s Anatomy in this category. It all boils down to this: You’re only as good as your lesbian kiss count (take note, Nurse Jackie). The “Other” category was stacked with votes for Dollhouse, Dexter, and Bones. 30 Rock is a show that seems to appeal to all kinds of people, lesbians not excluded. (See? We do still love you, Tina Fey!) Portia de Rossi‘s Better off Ted in second gives us hope that you’re all starting to watch it, which gives us even more hope that it’ll be renewed for another new season. As with the TV Drama category, the TV Comedy category was loaded with write-in votes, many for How I Met Your Mother, Glee, Big Bang Theory, and Modern Family.

In the biggest sweep of the Awards, Glee wins for being the best new addition to our DVRs in 2009. Despite the presence of lesbian FBI agent Janis Hawk, Flashforward didn’t make the grade. We hope she gets more screen time in 2010 (but we doubt she’ll be singing Journey songs anytime soon). To our surprise, we learned that many of us enjoy The Tyra Banks Show, which is in its final season. Also surprising: only 14% of you claim to watch Jersey Shore – or maybe you watch both, but think Tyra viewing is a little more pleasurable. Popular Guilty Pleasure write-ins included Gossip Girl, 90210, and America’s Next Top Model.

Chelsea Handler‘s gossipy pop culture talk show won over Wanda Sykes new gig, but not by much. Still, it’s not so shocking that the women triumphed in this category, especially before the Late Night Wars really began this past week. If the results in this category are any indication, we like to watch people cook, sing and dance – in that order. The presence of two gay female contestants on the most recent season of the Bravo cooking competition was probably an extra incentive to vote for Top Chef. But Adam Lambert fans sure showed up to the poll, with American Idol coming in second. The Amazing Race and The Biggest Loser were most popular among the write-ins.

Having explored her bisexuality while on camera (with her roommates and even one of their boyfriends), The Real World’s Ayiiia kept us guessing (and watching) what she’d discover about herself next. And for some reason, Top Chef’s Ashley was more appealing to our voters than her competitor, Preeti.

2009 was undeniably the year of the Gaga. Taking control of this category and never letting go, the hitmaker not only talked about sleeping with women with Barbara Walters, she released an amazing pop album and had riveting performances on every stage she was given. The “Other” category came in third, and it was filled with many votes for Pink, Missy Higgins, Sia and Melissa Etheridge.

The ultra-gay friendly singer/songwriter won our hearts with “I’m Yours” and his duet with Colbie Caillat this year. Openly gay Idol runner-up Adam Lambert was not too far behind, with the hip-hop MCs holding it down at the bottom of our list. The twin sisters’ latest album Sainthood gave Tegan and Sara another push further into the mainstream as their music (and faces) were everywhere in 2009. It’s one category Glee just couldn’t win in, at least not without Sue Sylvester singing yet.

Neil Patrick Harris proves that making people laugh will always put a man ahead in our collective book, especially when he’s an out gay man and proud of it. There wasn’t much of a competition in this category, even with Adam Lambert’s high-profile appearances and his coming out cover story in Rolling Stone. After being named our Lesbian of the Decade, Ellen was almost a lock to win our favorite woman of 2009. She even beat out her own wife, who shouldn’t feel too bad, as she swept last year’s AfterEllen.com Hot 100. Despite other couples’ best attempts at being, uh, out couples, Ellen and Portia are the ultimate lesbian power couple, with a successful marriage, careers and campaigns for the issues they believe in. They use their influence, money and celebrity in the best ways possible, and we couldn’t be more proud that they’re a part of the team.

That’s it for this year’s Lesbian/Bi People’s Choice Awards! What did you think of the winners? Let us know in the comments!

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