*Keke Palmer was honored Saturday by the Los Angeles LGBT Center and during her speech she admitted to struggling with her sexuality and gender identity.
“I’m so grateful to be here today to be embraced by a community that I’ve always felt accepted by and a part of,” Palmer said after being presented with a Vanguard Award, Variety reports.
“I’ve always been my own person. Sexuality and identity for me has always been confusion. You know, it’s, ‘I never felt straight enough. I never felt gay enough. And I never felt woman enough. I never felt man enough.’ You know, I always felt like I was a little bit of everything.”
Transgender influencer Ts Madison hosted the gala, which took place at the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel. The event reportedly raised more than $1 million for the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
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“So often, I lead with masculinity. And as a woman, I’ve always been met with so much disdain, you know what I mean?” Palmer continued. “I think so much of that came from who I thought I had to be to get respect, admiration and love. And I’ve always really wanted to be like my father…to want to be taken seriously and not diminish because I was a woman. You know, that’s always been a source of — I guess you would say — pain and resentment.”
The Nope” star added, “Why did my gender have to define the power I have in the world? And why does my gender get to decide my sexuality?” she asked.
“You know, since I was younger, I always questioned the boxes I was forced to be in and it starts with who you’re supposed to be as a child. You’re supposed to be as a black person or whatever the background you are from… Then those walls just try to cave you in from every damn angle, who you are as a creative, who you are as a friend,” Palmer said.
“I’m truly so grateful to be seen in this room because I know I’m surrounded by people who know without a doubt what it’s like to decide to be who you are in a world that tells you to be everything but yourself,” she continued.
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