“There is reason for hope,” 2020 TIME100 honoree Billy Porter said by way of introducing Kelley Robinson ahead of her toast. Porter took care to highlight Robinson’s intersectional work when it came to LGBTQIA+ rights as president of the Human Rights Campaign. Robinson used her toast as a way to highlight the ways in which America has progressed and the work that lies ahead, as well as the integral role that queer folks have played in the country’s social change.
“Don’t tell me change isn’t happening, because my family is proof,” she said. “We are all truth in this room. Read the history of America, the story of America is a story of hope. It’s a story of progress. It’s a story of change—and lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and trans folks. We have always been at the forefront of that change.”
