Shonda Rhimes Accepts GLAAD Special Award From ‘Scandal’s’ Kerry Washington (Exclusive Video)

Shonda Rhimes took home not one but two GLAAD Media Awards on Saturday for her contributions to LGBT visibility, receiving both the watchdog group’s special recognition as well as for Grey’s Anatomy, which was honored as 2012’s outstanding drama series.

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During a Saturday event at the Marriott Marquis in San Francisco, the prolific showrunner behind ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal collected the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s Golden Gate Award, which is presented annually to a media professional who through their work have increased the visibility and understanding of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Throughout her career, Rhimes has continued to feature LGBT characters in her series, with Sara Ramirez and Jessica Capshaw playing a married lesbian couple on Grey’s Anatomy and Jeff Perry portraying the president’s openly gay chief of staff on Scandal, among other characters.

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Rhimes picked up the award from Scandal star Kerry Washington and delivered a moving speech, calling the community’s battle for equal rights the “civil rights movement of our time.”  

Check out Washington’s moving introduction and Rhimes’ acceptance speech in videos from Saturday’s awards, exclusive to The Hollywood Reporter, below.

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit