Singer Troye Sivan was honoured Saturday at the GLAAD Media Awards with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award for his work for the LGBTQ community.
As the youngest recipient of the accolade, the 21-year-old took to the podium to share gratitude for the award and pay tribute to LGBTQ activists — including Peter Staley, Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, Bayard Rustin and Gilbert Baker — who have helped him have the platform that he has today.
"This award is so much larger than me," Sivan said in the beginning of his award speech, which was presented by Canada’s Carly Rae Jepsen and Semi Precious Weapons frontman Justin Tranter.
Emma McIntyre / Getty Images
"This moment is about visibility and about representation. What and who we see in the media defines our perception of the world around us, and so to see ourselves in this picture of what is ‘normal’ and what is acceptable and what is beautiful is absolutely vital. In saying that, so much of the work that has contributed to our progress as a community is far less glamorous than the work that I’m being honoured for tonight.”
Sivan went on to centre his speech around David France's 2012 documentary How to Survive a Plague, which focuses on the early years of the AIDS epidemic and how he saw himself and friends in some of the characters in the film.
"Within the characters in the doc, I saw myself, and I saw my friends, and I saw my colleagues, and I saw my boyfriend. These kids were young, smart, active fighters. I saw that wit, that humour, that resilience that I’ve grown to love so much about my community," he continued.
"The difference was that these people were attending a friend's funeral on a weekly basis. This was in New York City, not even 40 years ago. They were fighting for medical treatment, for visibility, and they were fighting for their lives. It was a life or death situation."
Original article by James Dinh at iHeartRadio