Greg Berlanti accepts the Governors Award at the Emmys and talks about LGBTQ+ representation

Writer, producer and director Greg Berlanti, who has long advocated for greater LGBTQ+ visibility on television, was honored with the Governors Award at Sunday's Emmy Awards. The award is given to creatives who make a “profound, transformative and lasting contribution” to television.

Berlanti was introduced by Matt Bomer, who starred opposite Jonathan Bailey in the gay romance thriller “Fellow Travelers,” and Joshua Jackson, a former cast member of the teen drama series “Dawson's Creek,” where Berlanti served as a staff writer and later as an executive producer.

“I wanted to be in television before I knew it was possible,” said Berlanti as she accepted the award on Sunday evening. “Now there was no [sic] There were a lot of gay characters on TV at the time, and I was a kid who didn't come out as gay. It's hard to describe how lonely I felt at that time.”

Read more: Emmy Awards 2024: The complete list of winners

But then the first reports about AIDS came, Berlanti said, and he saw openly gay men on television for the first time.

“Too many died, but they were also on the streets. Men holding hands with other men, marching and fighting for their lives – and they gave me hope that one day I could have their courage to come out and share my truth with the world.”

Read more: Eugene and Dan Levy open the 2024 Emmys with a Canadian monologue

With the support of his mother, who got Berlanti his first job as a young puppeteer, as well as “teachers, friends, representatives and executives over the years,” the veteran gay producer championed LGBTQ storylines in countless television shows, including “Brothers & Sisters,” “Arrow” and “Riverdale.”

And as Jackson recalled, “Dawson's Creek” made history in 2000 when it featured the first gay kiss between teenagers on prime-time television.

When Berlanti accepted his award, he received a standing ovation.

Sign up for Screen Gab, a free newsletter from the LA Times about the hottest TV and film topics.

This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.