-: Thank you, Jonathan.
I wanted you to stand with me tonight
because you've inspired me
through your excellence and your journey.
And I remember the day that your show premiered
and I sent you that really ugly video of me crying.
Because I saw myself in you and I still do
and I'm grateful for you and all of your work.
Congratulations.
(audience cheering)
I hear you should thank your husband first
so that you're sure not to forget him, you know,
but I only have one of those on TV, hint, hint.
So thank you to my space boo Anthony Rapp,
who puts up with me for the last 26 years
and allows me to be the artist that I am
and inspires me every day on set, along with
the rest of my incredible Star Trek Discovery family
for helping me imagine a more hopeful future.
And to my dear friend, one of my heroes, Judith Light.
(audience clapping)
Judith, my sweet, congratulations.
No one deserves this more than you.
You've been a light through many a storm
for many years for us.
Wherever I was, there you were too, and I thank you.
Tonight, I want to take this.
Is it working?
'Cause I have shit to say.
Tonight I wanna take this opportunity to say thank you
for the gift of this career and this life, really,
because I know none of it would've been possible
without a community like this
to encourage me and root me on.
And without the incredible activist
this award is named for, Vito Russo,
and his dream of visibility for all of us.
I want to thank GLAAD, its board, hey Tiffany R. Warren.
And especially my friends here,
Sarah Kate Ellis among them,
who has turned this place into the powerhouse of advocacy
that it is.
Rich Ferraro, Monica DeSantis, Anthony Allen Ramos,
Megan Townsend, Lewis Osio-De Dios, and Nick Adams.
Your integrity and dedication impacts
not just how we are seen, but how we see ourselves.
I wanted to work here because I needed to see
more BIPOC and trans representation in media
and you gave me the platform and the opportunity
to advocate for it when there was so very little.
And it was a privilege to do that work with you.
Thank you for that, for tonight,
and for all you have done for us for all of these years.
I have to thank my parents who cannot be here tonight
and who really wish they could be
for teaching me the meaning of true love.
And my brothers Gilbert and Joshua for putting up with me
and for making me Theo Wilson, best gig ever by the way.
And actually my brother, Josh is here
with his husband tonight.
Walter, thank you for loving my brother as much as you do.
And if you know me, you know my brother, Josh.
And so you know why he is also actually my best friend
and is truly my favorite person in the world.
I love you guys.
I want you to know that I know no actor,
not even one as devilishly handsome as I am,
can attain any level of success or fulfillment
unless they first are afforded an opportunity
to share their gift.
And for me to have been afforded
three decades of opportunities to do what I love,
indeed, what I feel I was put here to do,
to be allowed to strive, to live up to my potential,
all while being openly and unapologetically who I am,
existing in this queer and Afro-Puerto Rican vessel.
I know, I know that is something that only happens
because many of you were willing to give me a chance
to show what I could do.
I'm looking at you, Tammy Rosen,
my manager of 20 years, not an easy gig,
who is here tonight along with my friend, Michael Greif
who changed my life and its trajectory
by casting me in Rent.
And I'm thinking of Winnie Holzman,
the creator of My So-Called Life,
my fairy godmother
for whom I will live in eternal gratitude.
You said yes at a time when so many,
given the times that we have lived in,
only knew how to say no.
So thank you to my community,
to my community of queer artists, the dancers,
the singers, the authors, poets, and actors of color
out there in the hustle or studying their craft,
going after their own dreams.
I wanna remind you that you contain multitudes.
The magic in you is ancient.
It works through you, let it.
Feel it like you feel it when that Bad Bunny song hits.
Never lose your sense of curiosity.
Never question your beauty
or the fact that that which makes you different
is also that which makes you special.
When you doubt it the most, remember I said it.
This year marks my 30th anniversary as a professional actor.
And in those 30 years, we have accomplished a lot together.
We really have changed the conversation.
And I know these last few years
have been really difficult for us,
and I know we're all tired.
But I fear what happens if we disengage now
when our kids need us the most.
We cannot sit back and celebrate our victory on gay marriage
and forget that our youth, our trans siblings,
our immigrant families, abortion access,
and our voting rights are under direct attack.
And if you think they're gonna stop at abortion
and not come for those marriage rights next,
you haven't been paying enough attention.
Read Jonathan Capehart's opinion piece today
in the Washington Post.
We cannot allow them to turn the clock back
to a time when they thought they could shame us
into silence or inaction
using the same tired tropes like groomer.
The only thing I'm grooming is your hair and you're welcome.
Or worse, while they burn our books.
Not today.
Because we've moved on, we know better.
Listen to me, I'm on Star Trek.
I have been to the future.
In the future, we don't just accept
the diversity of humanity, we celebrate it.
We can't allow them to roll back our rights
because they refuse to evolve.
People love who they love and people know who they are.
It's as simple as that.
So tonight I'm asking you to commit yourselves
to continuing Mr. Russo's work of insisting on being seen
and not just being seen, but being respected.
Vito understood that our power lies in our visibility.
And we now know that it works.
We embrace the power of our stories
because we know how they've informed our humanity
and have left an indelible mark on the lives of LGBTQ people
and the people who love them,
which is to say mostly everybody.
Because we are part of the world.
We have always been here.
We will always be here.
Remember this, remember this if nothing else.
We are a community of lovers
who have dared to imagine and make real
a more expansive and inclusive definition
of love and identity for the human race.
We mustn't ever lose sight of that
or the power inherent in it.
And the great service that we provide
and we continue to provide to humanity
in the epic struggle of bending that moral arc
towards more justice, towards more acceptance,
towards more love.
That is who we are.
That is our charge.
Never forget that.
So thank you for choosing to see me
and for affording me the lifelong gift
of blazing my own trail
as I pursue the privilege of telling our stories,
sharing our humanity, and to making us even more visible.
Thank you for letting me continue to be
a part of the continuing effort
of showing just how beautiful our rainbow can be.
I will leave you with this quote.
It's so important to do something while you're here
because this is the only shot you'll get.
If I live another 10 minutes or another 10 years,
that's the only way I'm gonna spend my time.
Agitating for change, because change needs to happen.
None of this is gonna happen in my lifetime.
I'm fighting for the generation that comes after me.
Vito Russo.
And all I can say is, amen.
Thank you.
(audience cheering)
I love us.