He said: "Tonight is a really important night, all nights like this, because it's a celebration and there's lots of heart. There's real people, there are real stories.
"I think people have to remember that when everybody goes home and they take their glam rags off, that's when the real work starts."
Actor Billy Porter, best known for his role as Pray Tell in Pose, also received an award on the night in recognition of his work on stage and screen and for raising awareness of HIV prevention.
Accepting it via video message, he said he was "humbled" and called on the LGBTQ+ community to "come together and remember love always wins."
Speaking in 2021, when Porter confirmed he was living with HIV, he said he had kept it a secret for 14 years but that speaking about it helped him stop feeling ashamed of his diagnosis.
