AMERICAN HORROR STORY, SCREAM QUEENS Ryan Murphy's Moving Speech at amfAR AIDS Research Gala

"Recently in the media, whenever articles are written about me and my career, there is one word that is used over and over to define me, to describe me and the work that I do, and that word is prolific, and the content is always kind of negative. I do too much... My plate does overflow sometimes, and I do this largely now, I realize, because of the HIV/AIDS crisis. When it's engraved in you as a young person and you don't think you have tomorrow, you bring every last drop out of today because you may not get another one."

Honored by the amfAR Foundation for AIDS Research Thursday night at its annual Inspiration Gala in Los Angeles, film and television screenwriter, director and producer, Ryan Murphy delivered a moving and heartfelt speech about living through the AIDS crisis when so many around him were dying and working as a gay man in Hollywood.

The numerous television series he has created or co-created include POPULAR, NIP/TUCK, GLEE, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, THE NEW NORMAL and the new SCREAM QUEENS.

As reported by Vulture, fellow luminaries like Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow introduced him, and the audience included many of the cast members of his shows, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Angela Bassett, Sarah Paulson, and Matt Bomer.

Lady Gaga, currently starring on the newest installment of FX's AMERICAN HORROR STORY, gave a special performance of "Call Me Irresponsible." (Click here for a clip)

But the undeniable highlight of the evening, which raised over $3 million for AIDS research, was the honoree's speech, where he spoke frankly about his first attempt at a pickup, the panic attacks that would lead him to hospital emergency rooms for HIV tests and how he saw the epidemic affecting his career.

"The HIV epidemic affected us as a community in so many ways. I can remember first getting involved in the entertainment industry in 1996 and asking myself, Is it okay to be me? Can I be out of the closet and still get work? As if I would ever pass as anything else. I remember saying and asking friends with the question, 'Can I wear a bracelet to a meeting at a studio, or is that too much?'"

Click here for Ryan Murphy's full speech.

In the course of its 25-year history, amfAR has invested more than $366 million in its programs, spawning numerous significant advances in HIV prevention, treatment and care. These accomplishments have helped extend, improve, and save the lives of countless people around the world living with HIV/AIDS or vulnerable to HIV infection. Visit amfar.org.