When collegiettes hear the name Kerry Washington there are several, unanimous thoughts that come to mind. She plays a killer role on Scandal, her luscious lips are at a level that even Kylie Jenner couldn’t compare with, and now, she’s a true inspiration.
At the 26th Annual GLAAD Media Award in LA earlier this week, Kerry Washington proved through her empowering speech that as the 2015 recipient of the Vanguard award, she deserved it.
According to GLAAD, their mission is to bring LGBT characters and plotlines to movie theaters, television sets and even comic books – working with writers, producers and studios to ensure accurate and diverse representations of LGBT people on the big and small screens. Through the Vanguard award, Washington was recognized for representing this mission though her role in Scandal, along with her various other work, and we could not be more supportive.
In her speech, Washington promotes breaking the barrier formed by society towards members of any disenfranchised community. By emphasizing the need to redefine the norms that are formulated through the opinions and pressures of society, she believes more diverse LGBT representation can be achieved.
“We must see each other, all of us. And we must see ourselves, all of us. And we have to continue to be bold and break new ground until that is just how it is, until we are no longer ‘firsts’ and ‘exceptions’ and ‘rare’ and ‘unique.’”
Washington points out that we, as a society, need to take a good look around and question our definition of humanity. “We can’t say that we believe in each other’s fundamental humanity, and then turn a blind eye to the reality of each other’s existence, and the truth of each others’ hearts.”
In her final words, Washington left us with this statement, “In the real world, being an ‘other’ is the norm. In the real world, the only norm is uniqueness, and our media must reflect that.”