SAG Awards to Honor Lily Tomlin on Sunday

by HRC Staff

This Sunday, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards will present openly lesbian actress and comedian Lily Tomlin with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Post submitted by Hayley Miller, former HRC Associate Director of Digital and Social

This Sunday, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards will present openly lesbian actress and comedian Lily Tomlin with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Tomlin has had an extremely successful career on television and on the big screen. She is best known for her work on the TV show Laugh In as well as current show on Netflix Grace and Frankie as well as countless films including 9 to 5, The Incredible Shrinking Woman and I Heart Huckabees. President Obama recognized Tomlin at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2014.

Tomlin married Jane Wagner, her partner of more than 40 years, in 2014. Tomlin has been out for many years, even when she began her career in the 1970’s. “Everybody in the industry was certainly aware of my sexuality and of Jane,” Tomlin told Just Out. “...in interviews I always reference Jane and talk about Jane, but they don't always write about it.”

Tomlin is also nominated for her role in Grace and Frankie.

Several pro-equality candidates, including Jane Fonda, Jeffrey Tambor, Kerry Washington, Bryan Cranston, Ty Burrell and Audra McDonald, are nominated. Openly gay actor Tittuss Burgess is also nominated for his role in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Moonlight is nominated for three awards, including Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor is a Supporting Role (Mahershala Ali) and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor is a Supporting Role (Naomie Harris).

Orange is the New Black is nominated for two awards: Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series-Uzo Aduba).

Longtime HRC supporters and LGBTQ advocates Nina Jacobson and Ryan Murphy produced The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which is nominated for three awards. Sarah Paulson is nominated for her standout role in the series. She won the Golden Globe earlier this month and in September, Paulson took home an Emmy Award for the same role, telling her partner Holland Taylor she loved her in her acceptance speech.

HRC congratulates Tomlin on yet another historic milestone and congratulates all of the nominees.