out 100 with the award winners advocate Cover star Miles Heiser isn’t convinced he deserves the accolades.
“When I first heard I would be included on this list, it felt a little inappropriate,” Starr says. boots, At Friday night’s Out100 party, he spoke about closeted gay men in the Marine Corps in the early 1990s. “As you know, there are people on this list who have dedicated their lives to advocating and fighting for our community, bringing real change to our government, combating disproportionate LGBTQ homelessness rates, and fighting to keep families together as the government and ICE seek to tear them apart. That being said, I played a bald teenager on TV this year.”
“I don’t know if that’s what I’m qualified for, but I’m very honored to be a part of this effort. Thank you,” he added.
related: Boots: How the story of a hidden Marine became a Netflix show
He said he was “so surprised by so many people in this room,” and joked, “I’ve been staring at your pictures on Grindr for years, but it feels so surreal to meet you in person.”
Then he got serious. “We’re in a very strange time right now, and it’s more important than ever that we lift each other up and celebrate our accomplishments, because being here tonight would have been incredibly dangerous not that long ago, and we owe it to the LGBTQ community that came before us to fight for a world where we can all safely celebrate here tonight,” he said.
“So I really want to use this platform to continue what they started and remind the world that our message is very simple: it’s love, acceptance, equality. Literally, that’s all there is to it. I don’t know why there’s so much backlash, but fortunately, our community is incredibly resilient and ready to take on any challenges that come our way, just as we have many times throughout history.”
“When same-sex marriage continued to be rejected, we came together and saw the Supreme Court overturn the same-sex marriage ban in 2015. And when our government ignored the deaths of thousands of gay and transgender people from the AIDS crisis, we came together to riot and fight until we got proper treatment and prevention for HIV.”
Related: Gay Boots stars Miles Heiser and Max Parker talk about men’s spaces and closets
“Yes, so when the critics say to us, olds fair “We got together because we couldn’t watch,” he continued, returning to humor. So together we can really do anything. ”
“Thank you everyone,” he concluded. “Thank you so much for letting me participate.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
