Alan Cumming returns OBE award given to him by Queen Elizabeth II

Alan Cumming announced he has returned an award that was given to him by Queen Elizabeth II more than 10 years ago.

Cumming shared the news on Instagram in a post for his birthday on Jan. 27. In the caption, the actor wrote in part, “Today is my 58th birthday and I want to tell you about something I recently did for myself. I returned my OBE.”

The actor was referring to the Officer of the Order of the British Empire award, which, according to the Honors System of the United Kingdom, is given to an individual for their "distinguished" role through “achievement or service to the community.” Cumming was awarded the honor in July 2009 for his activism.

“Fourteen years ago, I was incredibly grateful to receive it in the 2009 Queen’s birthday honours list, for it was awarded not just for my job as an actor but ‘for activism for equal rights for the gay and lesbian community, USA,’” he wrote in the caption. “Back then the Defence of Marriage Act ensured that same sex couples couldn’t get married or enjoy the same basic legal rights as straight people, and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell ensured that openly gay, lesbian or bisexual people were barred from serving in the military.”

Cumming also included the statement that he made at the time the honor was bestowed upon him, reading in part, “I am especially happy to be honoured for my activism as much as for my work. The fight for equality for the LGBT community in the US is something I am very passionate about, and I see this honour as encouragement to go on fighting for what I believe is right and for what I take for granted as a UK citizen.”

“Thank you to the Queen and those who make up her Birthday honours list for bringing attention to the inaction of the US government on this issue,” the statement continued. “It makes me very proud to be British, and galvanised as an American.”

However, in the months since the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Sept. 8, 2022, Cumming said that he has come to understand certain details about the monarchy which drove his decision to return the award.

“The Queen’s death and the ensuing conversations about the role of monarchy and especially the way the British Empire profited at the expense (and death) of indigenous peoples across the world really opened my eyes,” he wrote. “Also, thankfully, times and laws in the US have changed, and the great good the award brought to the LGBTQ+ cause back in 2009 is now less potent than the misgivings I have being associated with the toxicity of empire.”

He continued, adding, “So I returned my award, explained my reasons and reiterated my great gratitude for being given it in the first place. I’m now back to being plain old Alan Cumming again."

While the queen’s death was mourned by world leaders, it was also met with renewed public criticism of the monarchy and royal family.

“The reactions indicate the complicated and mixed relationship that people have had with the British monarchy, people in the Commonwealth and particularly in the Caribbean,” Matthew Smith, a professor at University College London and director of the Center for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership, told NBC News in a phone interview in September.

Smith continued, adding, “I think when people voice those views, they’re not thinking specifically about Queen Elizabeth. They’re thinking about the British monarchy as an institution and the relationship of the monarchy to systems of oppression, repression and forced extraction of labor, and particularly African labor, and exploitation of natural resources and forcing systems of control in these places.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com