image taken from Desert AIDS project Facebook Page
On February 11th, 2012, Matt Bomer was honored at the Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards Gala by being given a New Generations Art and Activism Award for his tireless efforts in aiding the fight against AIDS/HIV through the Desert AIDS project.
While Matt was accepting this award, he mentioned about his recent passion and dedication to the study of the play “The Normal Heart” by activist Larry Kramer for the upcoming film adaptation by Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy. Bomer explains how moved he was by the plight of the tragedy of AIDS/HIV in its early days to its troubles in the present time. He was so proud to be honored and a part of an organization that is looking toward “ a brighter future” as he stated.
He then turned to the presenter of his award and costar on White Collar, Diahann Carrol, Matt held Ms. Carrol in the highest regard stating that he learned so much from her and reached over for a gentle hug before continuing.
Matt then turned toward the audience and continued to thank his family:
“ I’d like to thank my beautiful family: Simon, Kit, Walker and Henry. Thank you for teaching me what unconditional love is. You will always be my proudest accomplishment. God Bless.”
While these precious words were said to end a moving and inspirational speech, somehow they instead lit up the media papers and video feeds. While the acceptance speech was shared on many computer screens and mobile phones, it seemed that these media outlets and social networking sites implied a change of lifestyle for Matt whether it was intentional or not. The words of thanks and to whom they were said to became the focus instead of the event at which they were shared at. Many of us take for granted saying things like thank you or I love you to those we care about and we often think nothing of it. We certainly do not expect it to be front page news the next day.
So if any of you out there wonder if something has changed about Matt, fear not. He is still the brilliant, charming actor who graces our screen each Tuesday with his antics on White Collar. He is still the guy that goes out of his way to meet and greet fans no matter where they are in any kind of weather. (he stays until everyone gets an auto who wants one unless there is a pressing need to be elsewhere and his hand is forced). He is still the same guy who wants to start his own charity while aiding charities of various kinds on his weekends off from shooting White Collar (and he has aided some of mine as well). He is still a father to three beautiful children and a partner to one special person. He is still the man my son admires. He is still someone I would be honored to call a friend. The only difference between yesterday and today is that he has finally being rewarded as the compassionate, selfless person he has always been with the Steve Chase HUMANITARIAN AWARD.
With focus on that, it was a beautiful way to end a fantastic evening where over 1.5 million was raised to help in the battle of AIDS/HIV. Thank you Matt! We are all very happy for you!
For more information on the Desert AIDS project and how you can help, please visit www.desertaidsproject.org
