November 22:
Ellen DeGeneresgot emotional as she received her Presidential Medal of Freedom from
President Obama at the White House.
POTUS got choked up as he spoke about the comedian's courage to come out years before the marriage equality bill was passed. “It’s easy to forget now when we’ve come so far, where now marriage is equal under the law, just how much courage was required for Ellen to come out on the most public of stages almost 20 years ago,” President Obama said. “Just how important it was. Not just to the LGBT community, but for all of us.”
He continued: “Ellen counters what too often divides us, with the countless things that bind us together, inspires us to be better, one joke, one dance at a time.”
Ellen was one of 21 recipients of the award which also included Robert Redford, Cicely Tyson, Diana Ross, Bill and Melinda Gates, Robert De Niro and Michael Jordan.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images