Actress Sally Field has said she is proud of her gay son, Sam Greisman.

Field on Saturday was presented with the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) Ally for Equality Award at the group's 16th Annual National Dinner at the Walter E. Washington convention center in Washington D.C.

The 65-year-old Field was introduced by Greisman, who said his mother was “overjoyed” when he came out gay to her.

“The three things I am most proud of in my life are Peter, Eli and Sam, my sons,” Field told the crowd, estimated at 3,000.

Sam's “journey to allow himself to be what nature intended him to be was not an easy one.”

“Nature made Sam. It wasn't a choice. He was always, always Sam. Glorious, smart, funny, sweet Sam. And finally at 20, long after he beat the crap out of his brothers at tennis and he knew more than anyone about basketball, at 20 he was finally able to stand up proudly and say: I am a gay man.”

“You all have fought for him as surely as if you were one of his parents. You've changed and are changing the lives of little boys and girls who realize somewhere along the way they're just different from their other brothers and sisters – and so the fuck what?” (The video is embedded on this page. Visit our video library for more videos.)