Katy Perry, America Ferrera honored by the Human Rights Campaign

March 20 (UPI) -- Katy Perry was honored with the Human Rights Campaign's National Equality Award Saturday during the organization's annual gala at the J.W. Marriott in Los Angeles.

"I'm just a singer-songwriter, honestly. I speak my truths and I paint my fantasies into these little, bite-size pop songs. For instance, 'I kissed a girl and I liked it,'" the pop star said onstage after being presented with the award by Westworld star Shannon Woodward.

"Truth be told, A) I did more than that, but B) How was I going to reconcile that with a gospel-singing girl raised in youth groups that were pro-conversion camps? What I did know is that I was curious, and even then I knew sexuality wasn't as black and white as this dress," she continued to members of the LGBTQ community about her religious upbringing.

"And, honestly, I haven't always gotten it right, but in 2008, when that song came out, I knew that I started a conversation that a lot of the world seemed curious enough to sing along, too."

The Human Rights Campaign, which fights for LGBTQ rights, also honored actress America Ferrera with the Ally for Equality Award.

"I must confess that anything I've ever done on behalf of the LGBTQ community, I did in service to myself," Ferrera said during her speech. "Anything I ever did for the rights of this community, I did because I believe with every fiber of my being that my liberation is bound up in the liberation of my LGBTQ brothers and sisters."

"And in the liberation of my black brothers and sisters. And in the liberation of immigrants. And refugees. And Muslims. And Sikhs. And women all over the world. And the incarcerated, and the criminalized, and the uneducated, and the poor, and the hungry," she continued.