'Here Comes Honey Boo Boo' Nominated For GLAAD Media Award For Depiction Of Gay 'Uncle Poodle' Lee Thompson

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation nominated an episode of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” in the Outstanding Reality Program category of the GLAAD Media Awards.

The episode, the 2012 season finale “It Is What It Is,” features Honey Boo Boo’s gay uncle, Lee Thompson, whom the Thompsons affectionately call Uncle Poodle.

Uncle Poodle helps Honey Boo Boo come up with new routines for a pageant.

Precocious Alana says in the episode that she embraces her gay uncle and is shown excitedly awaiting his arrival to her family’s Georgia home.

“Aint nothing wrong with being gay,” the 8-year-old child pageant queen and reality TV star says. “Everybody’s a little gay.”

Honey Boo Boo’s mother, June “Mama Bear” Shannon, explains why Uncle Poodle is helpful for her daughter’s pageants.

“You know gay men … they know how to dance and make the moves,” she says to the camera. “I think that she needs her Uncle Poodle … before the pageant to teach her something. Maybe he can give her some sass. He’s got a little fruit in his tank, what can I say?”

One of Alana’s sisters, Jessica “Chubbs” Shannon, explains how Lee came to be known as Uncle Poodle.

“He is called Poodle, because Alana calls any gay person a poodle,” she said.

The GLAAD Media Awards nomination comes at a rough time for the Thompson clan: Uncle Poodle just revealed that he is HIV-positive. Lee said his boyfriend infected him and he found out his diagnosis in May but just recently made his status public.

“Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is competing with four other shows in the Outstanding Reality Program category of the GLAAD Media Awards. Also nominated are Bravo’s “Pregnant in Heels,” “Small Town Security” on AMC, “The Amazing Race” on CBS and “The Real L Word” from Showtime. You can see a few list of all the nominees for each category here.

The awards “recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives,” according to GLAAD.

“These are the images and stories that bring us closer to equality,” the organization says.

The 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, which also serve as a fundraiser, are handed out over three separate events, which kick off March 16 at the New York Marriott Marquis. The awards then move to Los Angeles, where they will be presented at the JW Marriott Los Angeles on April 20. The final event is at the Hilton San Francisco on May 11.