Beloved by the queer community, iconic actor Jennifer Coolidge proved once again what an amazing ally she is by delivering a heartfelt speech at the 34th annual GLAAD Media Awards ceremony.

Hosted by comedian Margaret Cho, this year’s GLAAD Media Awards ceremony took place in Los Angeles on March 30, and Jennifer Coolidge made a surprise appearance, delighting the entire queer audience and fans at home with her hilarious and inspiring speech.

The actor, who was recently awarded a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her role in HBO’s The White Lotus, referenced a line from said show to kick off her speech, saying: “Here I am again surrounded by gays. Wow, it’s the story of my life.”

She then continued by saying: “It’s the GLAAD Media Awards, and what a night we’re gonna have, and we’re all here for a very important reason. And you wanna know why? Because we’re here to honour media that helps the world understand and accept the LGBTQ+ community.”

The actor then added that she had “so much respect for the LGBTQ community… thank you for always being there for me, and that’s why I’m here because I wanna give back. I believe that we all have the right to be who we are and to love the people that we love and tell our stories and celebrate that in every way that we can.

It wouldn’t be an award show in 2023 without the incredibly iconic @JENCOOLIDGE. She just made a surprise appearance to help us kick off the #GLAADawards (and these gays were not trying to kill her)

And then an old friend of hers had their own surprise. pic.twitter.com/4tzU8GMP9C

— GLAAD (@glaad) March 31, 2023

“I just want to thank you all for being you and inspiring me. And now I just wanna say: Let’s really have some fun,” the icon concluded.

Even more surprisingly, Coolidge was then joined on stage by her colleague Jane Lynch, who is most famous for her role as coach Sue Silvester in TV series Glee, and played Coolidge’s wife in the 2000 film Best in Show. Thanking her former co-star for her allyship, Lynch presented her with a Special Recognition Award.

“This wonderful woman here was pro-gay before it was cool to be pro-gay,” Lynch told the crowd. “She is one of us, and I have always said that the world has to catch up with Jennifer Coolidge – and the world has caught up with Jennifer Coolidge!”

Other winners at the ceremony included Christina Aguilera, who received the Advocate for Change award, a newly added category which was introduced by Michael Anderson, one of the survivors of the Colorado Club Q shooting, while rapper Bad Bunny and actor Jeremy Pope also won awards.

Moreover, A League of Their Own took home the award for Outstanding New Series; What We Do in The Shadows got one for Outstanding Drama Series; and Bros won Outstanding Film – Wide Release.