As attacks on the LGBTQ community rise in the U.S., celebrities are showing their allyship.
On Thursday night, stars gathered for the annual GLAAD Media Awards, and they took a stand in support of the queer community.
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Among the stars on hand were Jennifer Coolidge and Jane Lynch, who helped to get the show started. Host Margaret Cho opened things with jokes about Donald Trump’s indictment.
Ricky Martin appeared onstage to present Bad Bunny with the Vanguard Award, nothing that “the most streamed artist in history is loudly standing with trans women and the entire community” and letting “the LGBTQ people dance, sing love and live lives authentically. That could not be more important right now.”
Bad Bunny accepts a special honor from Ricky Martin at the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles pic.twitter.com/NU9EbV1k1c
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 31, 2023
Thanking the whole LGBTQ community for “embracing me, for loving me the way they do, and for inspiring me too,” Bad Bunny said: “I believe that following my heart has led me to where I am, following my heart has brought me here receiving this award, surrounded by such beautiful people. I believe that when you have a good heart and you give love, that’s what you receive back.”
Christina Aguilera was also at the gala, receiving Advocate for Change Award from Club Q shooting survivor Michael Anderson.
“When you’ve been a victim of violence, abuse or trauma, it is incredibly hard and scary to find your voice and fight back. Having grown up in a home with domestic violence, it was seeing my mom in a powerless position that first ignited the fire in me to speak up for all of the people whose voices don’t get heard,” Aguilera said in her acceptance speech. “We all need to raise our voices if we want to live in a world that’s free of discrimination, hate and violence. I feel so grateful tonight because for me, it’s not about winning awards or being honoured — it’s nice though, thank you — but my greater purpose is to use the platform I have to change lives for the better.”
“A League of Their Own” showrunner Will Graham, in his speech accepting the award for outstanding new TV series, called on the industry to do more to support LGBTQ programming.
“I hope that all of us on this stage and all of us in this room can say to our industry that we are the audience that is growing. We are not a niche anymore, there’s way too many of us,” he said. “The days that you can hold a Pride event and cancel our shows at the same time has to be over. The days when you can sit on the sidelines while people debate our right to exist are over. We are here, our lives matter, our joy matters, and we will remember who stood with us and who stood back at this crucial moment in our history.”
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Actor Jeremy Pope received the Stephen F. Kolzak Award from “The Inspection” co-star Gabrielle Union.
“We know that we are targeted, our trans brothers and sisters; our rights seem to be at stake and at times I find my heart wrestling with this idea of ‘How do I know that is going to be OK?’ But it’s rooms like this that remind me of the power of this community, the power of love, how we will rise time and time again for each other,” Pope said.
“I want you to know that we are beautiful, we are chosen for greatness, all of us chosen to use our time on this earth to plant seeds of prosperity and ideas of a better tomorrow for the next generation of warriors,” he added.
