Jennifer Lopez accepted the Vanguard Award on Saturday during the 25th annual GLAAD Awards. During her acceptance speech, she remembered her late Aunt Marisa, who was a lesbian, saying that she was a big inspiration for the work she does to support the LGBT community.
"[Aunt Marisa] grew up gay in a time when it mean life could be very difficult and that her struggles were mostly kept to herself. It wasn't until I got older that I really began to know and appreciate all the difficulties she dealt with and the struggles of her community. I also realized the quiet lessons I learned from my family about love, tolerance, and acceptance. We loved her. That was all because of her. So I wanted to do this because I felt that she would be so proud of me. I thought about that a lot when I was doing this. And as I do now. I always think, I bet she would love this. And I know she is proud of me and everybody here. She's proud of all of us."
You can see more videos from the event including the full presentation of the Vanguard Award to Jennifer Lopez by Rita Moreno and other moments with the participation of Lupita Nyong'o, Naomi Campbell, Laverne Cox, Carmen Carrera and more here.