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Wanda Sykes accepts her GLAAD award

This past Saturday at the 21st Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles, out comic Wanda Sykes was presented with the The Stephen F. Kolzak Award for making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for the LGBT community in the media.

Sykes attended the event with her wife Alex (making their first press appearance as a couple) and was presented the award by Mississippi teen Constance McMillen, who made national headlines when her high school cancelled her prom rather than allow McMillen to attend with her girlfriend.

Sykes thanked GLAAD for the award and their work, “Thank you for the work you’re doing and being the watchdog. Because you really create the environment that allows me to be comfortable being me. [It’s great] to be out and open and free and be able to say thank you to my wife… It’s love and being honest that wins hearts and minds.”

She also acknowledged McMillen’s bravery in standing up to homophobia at her school in Mississippi, quipping, “I wouldn’t even tell people I was black in Mississippi!” Sykes also thanked Ellen DeGeneres for starting a national dialogue by being “out and happy.”

Watch the speech in its entirety here:

Additional Awards will be announced in San Francisco on June 5, and you can follow @glaad on Twitter (http://twitter.com/glaad).

What did you think of the Sykes speech?

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