Matt Bomer Acknowledges Partner, Family

Actor Matt Bomer acknowledged his partner, Simon, and their children, and said "his world has been rocked" by research for his role in the upcoming film adaptation of The Normal Heart.

While accepting the Steve Chase Foundation's New Generation Arts and Activism Award in Palm Springs, Calif., Saturday for his dedication in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the charismatic White Collar star thanked his partner, publicist Simon Halls, and their three children. "I'd really especially like to thank my beautiful family: Simon, Kit, Walker, Henry," he said at the podium. "Thank you for teaching me what unconditional love is. You will always be my proudest accomplishment."

Bomer and Halls were also listed together as part of a host committee in the program for a Family Equality Council event that was held Saturday in Los Angeles.

The actor, who will soon guest as the brother of Darren Criss's character on an episode of Glee, will also appear with George Clooney and Jesse Tyler Ferguson in the March 3 staged reading of Dustin Lance Black's play 8, which is adapted from transcripts of the landmark Proposition 8 trial that made same-sex marriage illegal. Last September, in an email interview with The Advocate, Bomer expressed why the subject matter is so important. "I feel that the generations to come will view this time period in terms of civil rights for the LGBT community as pretty sad and unnecessary," he said. "And I know that in my lifetime, everyone American will have the right to legally marry the person they choose and that it will be recognized federally as well as by the state."

Bomer will appear this summer as a dancer in Steven Soderbergh's comedy Magic Mike and will later star in director Ryan Murphy's adaptation of Larry Kramer's Tony Award-winning play The Normal Heart, which chronicles the early years of the AIDS epidemic in New York City.

Watch video of Bomer's speech below.