Jean Smart Talks About Being a Gay Icon at Human Rights Campaign Dinner

Jean Smart speaks on stage during the Human Rights Campaign’s Los Angeles 2024 dinner

Monica Schipper/Getty Images)

The Human Rights Campaign honored Jean Smart and Sterling K. Brown at its 2024 Dinner in Los Angeles, held Saturday evening at the Fairmont Century Plaza and featuring a keynote address by First Lady Dr. Jill Biden.

The evening, which toasted those working for LGBTQ+ equality, began with Biden’s speech following a brief introduction by first daughter Ashley Biden and HRC Chair Kelly Robinson. At the beginning of her speech, the first lady was interrupted by protesters shouting, “Cease the fire now.” One person who was escorted by security held a sign that read: “Gay Jews say ceasefire now.” Biden momentarily stopped her speech, but did not directly address the protesters.

Biden spoke about his relationship with the president before addressing the issues currently facing LGBTQ+ people. “This community is under attack,” Biden told the crowd. “They are stripping away rights. Freedoms are being eroded. More and more state laws are being passed aimed at this community.”

Biden also touched on the administration’s victories regarding the LGBTQ+ community, including marriage equality, lifting the ban on gay and bisexual men donating blood, and making it possible for transgender soldiers to serve openly in the military.

“We are going to fight and we will win,” Biden said at the end of his speech. “Today, tomorrow and every day after until all people everywhere can live freely, surrounded by love. I love you. “Your president loves you.”

Later that night, Smart’s tricks Co-star Hannah Einbinder took the stage to present the actress with the National Equality Award, and began her speech by sharing her excitement at being asked to introduce Smart because she thought they “only gave these awards to queer people.”

“I finally thought, now is my chance. You know, we are both single, but unfortunately I was informed that Jean is being honored by her alliance with our community and is still very straight,” the 28-year-old comedian joked. “Maybe next year.”

Einbinder praised Smart for championing LGBTQ+ visibility through storytelling, particularly highlighting Smart’s role in Designing women and the show’s landmark episode highlighting the AIDS epidemic.

Smart then took the stage and thanked Einbinder for being her “brilliant and fun playmate at work, my friend, my confidant, and my waking counselor.” The five-time Emmy winner shared her positive thoughts about being labeled “a gay icon,” joking, “if I’m in the company of Judy and Liza and Betty and Joan and Bette and Cher, then I’m thrilled, absolutely.” She reflected: “But what did those women have? What is it? I think it’s because they told you exactly what they thought and didn’t care, but they always looked fabulous doing it.”

Smart also spoke to the crowd about his experience performing in Last summer in blue fish cove, a pioneering off-Broadway play that centers on a group of women who vacation annually at a lesbian beach colony. Smart credited the play for starting her career and shared her starting point for learning about the LGBTQ+ experience. “I personally learned about gay life through very painful experiences,” she said. The actress then shared a personal and heartbreaking story about her late friend Jimmy’s, who died of AIDS.

Smart ended his speech by touching on current issues and his relationship with the community. “And in a world where children are starving and dying from war,” Smart began. “It seems obscene and incomprehensible that any of us should care about another person’s sexuality,” she continued.

In the final part of the night, Brown received the Ally for Equality award. Screenwriter and playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, who won an Oscar for co-writing Moonlight, the film based on his work – featured the star. McCraney gave a heartfelt introduction addressing Brown’s empathy and what McCraney called his greatest honor: being godfather to Brown’s two children.

“There’s one thing I have as an overall goal in my life and that is to be the embodiment of love,” Brown began to tell the crowd. “It’s not about being loving, but about being love itself,” he continued.

Brown focused much of his speech on the parallels between his Aunt Vera and his recent role as Cliff, who just came out after divorcing his wife, in American fiction, which earned the actor his first Oscar nomination. “I long for a world where Aunt Vera, and many others like her, are embraced and celebrated with all her being, without exception,” he told the crowd.

Brown also urged the crowd to recognize “the interconnectedness of our struggle,” saying that “the fight for LGBTQ+ rights and racial justice cannot be seen as separate battles… they are inextricably intertwined.”

Other speakers throughout the evening included Tariq Trotter, also known as Black Thought of The Roots, along with an impassioned speech from the organization’s president, Robinson. HRC is the nation’s largest civil rights organization working for LGBTQ+ equality, and Saturday night’s event serves as a fundraiser for the organization.