Scandal star Kerry accepted the Vanguard award for being an ‘ally’ to the LGBT community, and her acceptance speech brought plenty of cheers, claps and even a standing ovation or two from the audience.
Kerry called on not just LGBT people but also women, people of colour, immigrants and anyone else without “the full rights of citizenship” to work together to achieve positive change.
“Women, poor people, people of color, people with disabilities, immigrants, gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, trans people, inter-sex people, we have been pitted against each other and made to feel like there are limited seats at the table for those of us that fall into the category of ‘other,'” she said.
“As a result, we have become afraid of one another. We compete with one another, we judge one another, sometimes we betray one another.”
“We must be allies and we must be allies in this business because to be represented is to be humanized and as long as anyone, anywhere is made to feel less human, our very definition of humanity is at stake and we are all vulnerable,” she went on to great applause.
Check out the full video of her speech here:
