Out singer-songwriter-actor Ben Platt
has received the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network's
(GLSEN) Inspiration Award.
Platt, 26, is best known for his Tony
Award-winning role in Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway. He is the
star of Netflix's The Politician. Last year, he released his
debut studio album, Sing to Me Instead.
GLSEN works to create a safe space in
schools for children who are or may be perceived to be gay, lesbian,
bisexual or transgender.
Judith Light, who returns next month
for season 2 of The Politician, presented Platt with the
award.
“Having someone like Ben create
stories in song means the world to LGBTQIA students who are wondering
if anyone else feels the same way they do,” Light said in a video.
“He tells them and demonstrates the powerful words from Dear
Evan Hansen 'You will be found' and he also lets them know that
they will be seen.”
(Related: Ben
Platt dating Noah Galvin; New concert special arrives Wednesday.)
“I grew up with a lot of privilege,”
Platt said from his Los Angeles backyard, “in the sense that I went
to a school where I was able to be entirely who I was and being a gay
man was only a piece of my puzzle, and a piece of my tapestry. And it
didn't need to be the headline.”
“And I know that that's not a luxury
that a lot of people have had in the past and it's one that people
still do not have now. And I am so encouraged and impressed by young
people's [acceptance of diversity].”
“You know, your queerness is part of
what makes you an interesting, intelligent, nuanced person. And I
think you should celebrate it and rejoice and just know that if there
are people around you that can't embrace that right now or that don't
understand that that only makes you a better person right now, it can
only get better as you get older and meet people who will appreciate
every aspect of who you are, including your queerness or your
gayness, in my case,” he
said.