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Jonathan Van Ness Gets Emotional While Discussing His LGBTQ Hero — 'There’s So Many Stories That Deserve To Be Told'
![Jonathan Van Ness](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/qQvtvY8J3/480x251/2019/06/GettyImages-1157686897.jpg 480w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/qQvtvY8J3/640x335/2019/06/GettyImages-1157686897.jpg 640w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/qQvtvY8J3/768x402/2019/06/GettyImages-1157686897.jpg 768w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/qQvtvY8J3/1024x536/2019/06/GettyImages-1157686897.jpg 1024w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/qQvtvY8J3/1280x670/2019/06/GettyImages-1157686897.jpg 1280w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/qQvtvY8J3/1440x753/2019/06/GettyImages-1157686897.jpg 1440w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/qQvtvY8J3/1600x837/2019/06/GettyImages-1157686897.jpg 1600w, https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/qQvtvY8J3/2160x1130/2019/06/GettyImages-1157686897.jpg 2160w)
June 26 2019, Updated 8:41 p.m. ET
Jonathan Van Ness is reflecting on the Stonewall Riots and opening up about his own personal LGBTQ hero. In honor of the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking rebellion, the Netflix star revealed which LGBTQ celebrity made a huge impact on his own life.
Jonathan, 32, thanked his personal hero while chatting with OKMagazine.com at the GLAAD Media Awards red carpet in New York City.
![Jonathan Van Ness](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/tMTqBazmy/0x0/2019/06/GettyImages-1141279368.jpg)
Gus Kenworthy, Adam Rippon and many others also spoke about other members of the LGBTQ community who inspired them.
![//GettyImages](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/CxYS_lQVt/0x0/2019/06/GettyImages-1128957980.jpg)
JVN revealed that his hero is the hilarious actress and comedian Margaret Cho. The openly bisexual celebrity has been a fierce advocate of LGBTQ rights for several years.
![Jonathan Van Ness](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/eH4Q0L4E9/0x0/2019/06/GettyImages-1146983549.jpg)
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His special guest that night was Queer Eye fan favorite Jess Guilbeaux. She was kicked out of her home at the age of 16 by her adoptive parents after coming out. Things only got worse when she was unable to continue her college education due to its high costs.
![Jonathan Van Ness](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/dQgcZyFNg/0x0/2019/06/GettyImages-1147001067.jpg)
Fans of the show raised over $100,000 for Jess to return to school after watching her emotional episode on the Netflix series. Her hero, not surprisingly, was the fab five from Queer Eye for what they did for her.
![Jonathan Van Ness](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/nzlj1-oB9/0x0/2019/06/GettyImages-1141279328.jpg)
Jonathan got emotional when discussing other LGBTQ icons because he wanted to give them all a voice
![Jonathan Van Ness](https://media.okmagazine.com/brand-img/G8RSkxM67/0x0/2019/06/GettyImages-1146981419.jpg)
“I mean like that’s really sweet of everyone to say but I also feel like there’s really so many stories that deserve to be told that have not been told that go so far beyond our five,” he said. “Like people that we haven’t had the honor to know because of the climate at the time.”