The gay icon accepted her award as 2016 Woman of the Year at Billboard’s Women in Music event with one of the most honest speeches of her career. She touched on her life as a teenager in New York City during the AIDS epidemic and how she lost several friends to the disease. She also talked about being inspired by David Bowie, though he could get away with gender-bending as a man, while she was chastised for owning her sexuality.

Her award was presented to her by Anderson Cooper, who proclaimed that "as a gay teenager growing up… Her music and outspokenness showed me as a teenager a way forward. Through her music, she told me and millions of teenagers -- gay and straight -- that we are not alone. We are connected to each other." After listening to her empowering words at the awards event, his assessment rang true as ever.