Jane Lynch should invest in a trophy case. The actress best known around the globe as Glee‘s snarky cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester has been piling up hardware this year, most recently adding the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center’s Rand Schrader Distinguished Achievement Award – its highest honor – to go alongside her Emmy. AfterEllen.com caught up with Lynch on the red carpet at the Center’s 39th annual gala on Saturday to discuss Sue Sylvester’s upcoming wedding, the show’s bullying story line and what recognition from the Center – where she serves as a board member – means to her. AE: Sue’s getting married! Will it be a same-sex wedding? Lynch: She’s getting married and it’s rather unconventional. I’m not going to say who or what or even what sex. It’s just so freakin’ weird, you’re going to love it.
AE: How does Carol Burnett play into the story? Lynch: Carol plays my Nazi-hunting mother. She abandoned myself and my sister, Gene. She comes waltzing back into our lives after supposedly finding the last Nazi and she wants to sing at my wedding. It gets pretty interesting.
AE: Will Sue get married in a track suit? Lynch: Close. The dress is so awesome. It’s by Ali Rahimi, the guy who did my outfit (at Saturday’s gala) and my Emmy, Golden Globes outfits. He’s a great designer and made a Sue Sylvester track suit wedding dress.
AE: What do you think of the bullying story line on Glee? Lynch: I think it’s great. I’m glad that Ryan [Murphy] wrote that story line about the bullying. We added the fact – and a lot of people beat up gays because they’re gay deep down inside, some do, not everybody, some just hate gays – but it shows that the guy is fighting his own inner-homophobia and projecting it. That’s why he’s so mean to Kurt, because he can’t stand his own feelings.
AE: Why is this story important to tell? Lynch: That’s what kids are doing out there, they’re trying to beat people up who are different than them. You get those ideas from your parents; nobody is that young and forms those ideas. They just don’t.
AE: Why is it important to support organizations like the Center? Lynch: A lot of the kids who go to the Gay & Lesbian Center are kids who ran away from home, they may be abandoned by their parents because they’re gay, maybe they’re being bullied. But they’re on the street and they have the Center to come to to get food, a warm bed, comfort, counseling. You have a place to go. That’s why I give money to this organization: they actually do the work, they don’t represent ideals. They’re not fighting a battle; they’re actually giving comfort and helping kids out. That’s why I love this place.
AE: What does this award mean to you? Lynch: It means the world to me that this place deems me worthy of an honor. I’ve been coming to this gala since 1992 and I did the AIDS Ride in 1996. As soon as I got enough money to start donating, this was the first place I donated to and I continue to. I love this place.
