Lena Waithe was honored with the Trailblazer Award at the MTV Movie & TV Awards in NYC on Saturday night. The actress and Emmy-winning writer [1] — who hit the red carpet with her fianceé, Alana Mayo [2], gave a poignant acceptance speech on stage [3], during which she gave "glory and shine" to the stars of the iconic 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning [4]. "I believe the only reason why I'm even allowed to stand here is because of a few other trailblazers that some of you might not be aware of." Lena then urged the audience to think of those LGBTQ+ pioneers, like Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Angie Xtravaganza, who "strutted through a brick wall so we wouldn't have to."

#MTVAwards [5]: @LenaWaithe [6] thanks trail blazers: "they strutted through a brick wall so we wouldn't have to" pic.twitter.com/0f20rUJxEE [7]

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) June 19, 2018 [8]