it's a real couple. - Mm-hmm.

And for those of you who don't know about the story

or the movie or who you play, tell them.

- Sure, well, I play Stacie Andree,

who's this incredible woman.

She's from Pennsylvania .

She met a woman named Laurel Hester,

played by Julianne Moore,

a very decorated detective in New Jersey.

They fell madly in love.

They became domestic partners.

They built their whole life together.

They bought a house.

And then Laurel was diagnosed with stage four cancer,

and she went to give her benefits to Stacie,

and the county officials where they lived

denied them the right to do that

strictly because they were in a same-sex relationship.

And then they decided to fight, and they fought for equality

and they did something very crucial

and important for all of us.

- And ended up winning that fight...

- And ended up winning the fight.

- Which is amazing that, that happened.

[cheers and applause]

- Mm-hmm.

I mean...

we are getting ready for a new president.

We're--and there's no more important time

than talking about equality, and I think it's a timely movie,

and, you know, I've said it before

and Julianne said it. It's not a gay movie.

It is a love story.

And it's a really important love story that I hope people see

because it was a--it must have been amazing to do this

because you had just come out before you did this.

- Mm-hmm. Absolutely. You know, it's har--

because the story is obviously so sad and a true story,

I wanna preface with what I'm about to say with that,

but it was very, very special to have come out,

to be playing a gay person,

someone who I admire so much,

who did something so crucial and important

in a time of unimaginable difficulty.

And, so it was a very very--I just felt so grateful

to be a part of telling her story really.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

- Well, it's amazing too because--

I know you've said this before, but it's, you know, when you--

as an actress, is a lot of working actors and actresses

don't come out because--for fear of losing your career.

- Mm-hmm.

- And a lot of people do and have...

- Mm-hmm. - But you also recognize how

you don't know the difference until you come out

what you felt like before. - Absolutely.

And for me, honestly, being a closeted person

hurt my career way more

because I was sad.

I was uninspired.

And now I feel more excited about life

and a sense of happiness that I've probably never felt.

- That's great. That's great to hear.

[cheers and applause]

Because...

[applause]

And it gives you an opportunity--first of all,

hiding anything is horrible for anyone no matter what it is.

You--it's just a secret is heavy.

- Mm-hmm. - It's a heaviness that no one--

it just makes you sick. - Mm-hmm.

Um, and, now you met someone.

You're in love. You have a girlfriend.

- Mm-hmm. - She's in the audience.

Hi, Samantha. - Hi.

So, that's fantastic that you are happy and in love.

So, I saw a picture that Samantha surfs.

Are you surfing now?

- Yeah, she's taught me to surf.

I mean, I'm learning to surf, yeah, so...

- Are you staying up? - Oh, yeah. Yeah.

- Wow that's--it's really hard, isn't it?

- Oh, my lord. Yeah. - Yeah.

[both laugh] - Adorable.

- Adorable. - Yeah.

- Anyway, I got you something,

so that when you go surfing next time,

and it is a gift.

[applause]

It's actually a really cool-- - Oh, nice.

- Can you see it? - Cool. No.

- [chuckles] - Please, thank you.