YESTERDAY, ELLEN DEGENERES was one of 21 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The beloved comedian and television host received the award alongside the likes of Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro and Michael Jordan.

Before she was presented with the medal, Barack Obama delivered a heartfelt speech in which he lauded DeGeneres for coming out as gay on her television show in 1997.

It’s easy to forget now, when we’ve come so far, where now marriage is equal under the law, just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages 20 years ago. Just how important it was. Not just to the LGBT community but for all of us.

To see somebody so full of kindness and light, somebody we liked so much, somebody who could be our neighbour or our colleague or our sister, challenge us on our assumptions. Remind us that we have more in common than we realise. Push our country in the direction of justice. What an incredible burden that was to bear. To risk your career like that, people don’t do that very often.

Obama admitted to “getting kind of choked up” while lauding Ellen for her courage and reminding everyone that Ellen DeGeneres paid a price for coming out at the time.

And you can see what the acknowledgment meant to Ellen.

People have since taken to Twitter to pay tribute to DeGeneres for paving the way all those years ago.

Watch the full speech below and just try not to get choked up.
https://www.facebook.com/Channel4News/videos/10154270962066939/

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