Sunday night Jeffrey Tambor won the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as a transgender woman in “Transparent,” and delivered a heartwarming speech. Also winning was the show’s creator, Jill Soloway. Watch their speeches below.
“I had a teacher who used to say, ‘When you act you have to act as if your life depends on it.’ Now I’ve been given the opportunity  to act because people’s lives depend on it,” Tambor, accepting his first Emmy, proudly announced. Tambor plays Maura Pfefferman in “Transparent.”
“I’d like to dedicate my performance, and this award, to the transgender community. Thank you for your patience, thank you for your courage, thank you for your stories, thank you for your inspiration, thank you for letting us be part of the change,” Tambor said.
Also receiving an Emmy for “Transparent” was its creator, director, and executive producer, Jill Soloway, for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.
“My moppa, Carrie, she could, tomorrow, go and try to find an apartment and in 32 states, and it would be legal for the landlord to look her in the eye and say we don’t rent to trans people,” Soloway, speaking of her own trans parent, reminded the audience.Â
“We don’t have a trans tipping point,” Soloway told the audience, “we have a trans civil rights problem.”
Soloway asked the audience to visit the National Center for Transgender Equality, “and vote to pass the trans equality bill.”
Soloway’s call to action may have worked better than she anticipated. As of this writing the website for the National Center for Transgender Equality appears to be down.
Bradley Whitford also won for the Emmy for Guest Actor, Comedy Series for his role in “Transparent.”
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Image: Screenshot via Facebook