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Jill Soloway, Jeffrey Tambor Dedicate Golden Globes to Trans Community, Leelah Alcorn

Jill Soloway, Jeffrey Tambor Dedicate Golden Globes to Trans Community, Leelah Alcorn

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Transparent creator Jill Soloway and star Jeffrey Tambor dedicate awards to trans community, and fallen trans teen Leelah Alcorn.

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Amazon's freshman hit Transparent won top honors at the Golden Globes Sunday night, as the series won for Best TV series, Comedy or Musical and Best Actor in a TV Series, Comedy or Musical for series star Jeffrey Tambor.

When creator Jill Soloway joined the cast on stage to accept their award, she thanked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and the team behind the show, including the actors and her family, and then dedicated the honor to the people her show sought to portray in a better light than had ever been done before.

"I want to thank the trans community. They are our family. They make this possible," Soloway said. "This award is dedicated to the memory of Leelah Alcorn, and too many trans people who die too young."

Alcorn was a transgender teenager from Ohio whose suicide note went viral last month; in it, she wrote that she took her own life because her parents refused to allow her to transition from male to female.

Soloway also dedicated the award to her parent, whose own transition inspired the series.

"This is dedicated to you, my trans parent, my Moppa," she said. "If you're watching right now, I just want to thank you for coming out. Because in doing so, you made a break for freedom. You told your truth. You taught me how to tell my truth and make this show, and maybe we're going to be able to teach the world something about authenticity and truth and love." Then Soloway held up the statue and declared, "To love."

Later in the program, Tambor returned to the stage to accept his very first Golden Globe, and he also thanked the transgender community.

"This is so big. This is much bigger than me," Tambor said, thanking Soloway "for the gift and ... the responsibility of Maura Pfefferman of Pacific Palisades."

He went on to thank three transgender people who helped Tambor create the character, a late transitioning transgender woman.

"Rhys Ernst, Zackary Drucker and Jenny Boylan, thank you, you led me through the steps to find more of Jeffrey than I've ever known in my entire life." Ernst and Drucker are artists who worked as consultants to the show; so did Boylan, who is an English professor at Barnard College at Columbia University, the inaugural Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence, as well as the author of 13 books and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times.

Tambor ended his acceptance speech by dedicating the award to "the transgender community. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for your courage. Thank you for your inspiration. Thank you for your patience. And thank you for letting us be part of the change."

He followed his moving speech by showing off his moves, backstage, during an interview with Access Hollywood. The vine is captioned @jeffreytambor getting down to this sick beat after winning for Transparent! #mydance #access

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Dawn Ennis

The Advocate's news editor Dawn Ennis successfully transitioned from broadcast journalism to online media following another transition that made headlines; in 2013, she became the first trans staffer in any major TV network newsroom. As the first out transgender editor at The Advocate, the native New Yorker continues her 30-year media career, in which she has earned more than a dozen awards, including two Emmys. With the blessing of her three children, Dawn retains the most important job title she's ever held: Dad.
The Advocate's news editor Dawn Ennis successfully transitioned from broadcast journalism to online media following another transition that made headlines; in 2013, she became the first trans staffer in any major TV network newsroom. As the first out transgender editor at The Advocate, the native New Yorker continues her 30-year media career, in which she has earned more than a dozen awards, including two Emmys. With the blessing of her three children, Dawn retains the most important job title she's ever held: Dad.