Santana Lopez (played by Naya Rivera) came out 10 years ago, yet Rivera’s co-stars remain deeply moved by her work as one of the first openly gay teens in a mainstream TV show.
Although Rivera never truly belonged to the LGBTQ community, her allyship and great pride in representing Lopez on Glee are simply unforgettable. After the high-schooler came out as a lesbian on the show, she was faced with many brutal realities that still affect some homosexual youth to this day.
On top of experiencing emotional pain amid being unaccepted by her own grandmother, Lopez was forced to navigate high school from a social perspective that comes with a great deal of stigma. No matter how traumatic the character’s struggles evolved to be, Rivera always knew her work served a greater purpose.
To show their immense support for the deceased actress who tragically drowned in a California lake nine months ago, Rivera’s former cast members rallied together at the 32nd Annual GLAAD Media Awards on Thursday.
Fellow LGBTQ activist and singer/songwriter Demi Lovato leads the tribute by guiding fans through the immense impact Rivera’s character has left on representation in the entertainment industry.
“Look at what LGBTQ teens have done in a decade. Imagine what we can do in the next one,” she says.
As a Latina, Lopez also faced several barriers in light of her visible minority status. Instead of shying away from the painful impacts of intersectional oppression, Rivera embraced them wholeheartedly. Her mom and closest cast members all reveal she was incredibly proud to push past social stigmas in her work on Glee.
The moment Rivera called her mom Yolanda Previtire with an inside scoop on Lopez’s script, she was totally stoked. “I feel great,” she exclaimed while gushing over her high hopes for the show and greater LGBTQ representation.
“I don’t believe she realized how important she was to this world,” Previtire reveals in a written statement at the awards show.
Immediately after Rivera’s death, fans were quick to respond with beautiful arrays of flowers and posters that showed their incredible appreciation for her talent and social impact.
The memorial was set-up in Lake Piru, California, not far from the area Rivera first went missing on July 8, 2020 when her four-year-old son was discovered on a boat all by himself.
Rivera’s most recent Instagram post with her son genuinely captures the caring nature she consistently embodied as a powerful mother.
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