Janet Jackson as a gay icon

Recognized as a long-term ally of the LGBTQ community, Jackson received the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Music Album for her Grammy Award-winning sixth studio album The Velvet Rope (1997), which spoke out against homophobia and embraced same-sex love.

In his review of the album, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph observed, "[Jackson] even makes a bid for gay icon status, delivering a diva-ish performance reminiscent of Diana Ross on 'Together Again' (a post-AIDS pop song), singing a paean to homosexuality on the jazzy 'Free Xone' and finishing with a lesbian reinterpretation of Rod Stewart's 'Tonight's the Night'.

[6] The upbeat dance song was arranged to celebrate the spirit of those who have passed on, rather than mourn their deaths, as Jackson comments.

[9] In June 2005, Jackson was given the Humanitarian Award by the Human Rights Campaign and AIDS Project Los Angeles in honor of her activism.

I'm grateful that God is of unconditional love.She has also been a strong advocate of practicing safe sex as a means of inhibiting the spread of the AIDS virus, criticizing those who are "careless" when it comes to sexual intercourse.

The announcement discusses the murder of fifteen-year-old Lawrence "Larry" King and the safety of LGBT youth in public schools.

We are delighted to honor Janet Jackson at the 19th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles as such a visible, welcoming and inclusive ally of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

And that really can affect you, and feeling helpless and hopeless, and finding that person that you can trust, that adult, like I did later on in life, that I felt comfortable and safe to tell my issues, my worries, my pains, my aches to.

"Janet Jackson will take us on a visually innovative, cerebral journey through the turbulent lives of transgendered people of all ages around the world and their epic struggle for equality," he said in a statement announcing the project.

"This film will highlight landmark mainstream stories and provide a glimpse at others that will change the gender landscape of the world forever.

Just as it is hard to believe that there ever was a time when different components of society were required to use separate drinking fountains, it is as incredible that one's gender expression remains just such a target for discrimination."