By Maya Salam and Nancy Coleman

Kate McKinnon was not in the closet. She’s been open about being a lesbian for years. She joked about it with Jerry Seinfeld on “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” and played lesbian characters with tongue-in-cheek authenticity in skits on “Saturday Night Live.”

Even so, her sexual orientation hasn’t been talked about as much as that of some other famous actresses, particularly Ellen DeGeneres, whom McKinnon presented the Carol Burnett Award to on Sunday night at the Golden Globes. The award is a lifetime achievement accolade for her contributions to television. Read more via NYT

Watch Kate McKinnon's Touching Tribute to Ellen DeGeneres at the 77th Annual Golden Globe Awards. " Subscribe for More: http://bit.ly/NBCSub "

“She risked her entire life and her entire career in order to tell the truth, and she suffered greatly for it. Of course, attitudes change, but only because brave people like Ellen jump into the fire to make them change. And if I hadn’t seen her on TV, I would have thought, “I could never be on TV. They don’t let L.G.B.T.Q people on TV.” And more than that, I would have gone on thinking that I was an alien and that I maybe didn’t even have a right to be here. So thank you, Ellen, for giving me a shot. A shot at a good life, and thank you also for the sweater with a picture of the baby goat on it.”