Sheldon (Jim Parsons) of "The Big Bang Theory" may never say that he and Amy (Mayim Bialik) are in a relationship of love. For the character, it is a boy and girl relationship in which physical intimacy is expressed via holding hands. However, Jim Parsons is not like his character. It is no secret that the Emmy award winning actor, 40, is gay and has been in a relationship with art-director, Todd Spiewak, for more than a decade.

At the GLESN Respect Awards, Parsons and Spiewak were honoured. The couple received the 'Inspiration Award' from LGBT young advocacy group, GLESN.

At the event, "The Big Bang Theory" actor said that he was not in a relationship with Todd to show his support for activism and that he never considered himself an activist. "I've never considered my relationship with Todd to be an act of activism," Parsons said as quoted by Daily Mail. "Rather simply, it's an act of love, coffee in the morning, going to work, washing the clothes, taking the dogs [out]-a regular life, boring love."

Parsons said that the award came as a surprise because they feel "normal" and "average." "The strange stuff is the Hollywood stuff we have to walk through, not the gay stuff we have to walk through," the actor said to the US Weekly.

In his emotional acceptance speech at Emmy Awards, 2013, Parsons called Spiewak his "favourite person on the planet." The actor won the Emmy Award for the third time for portraying Sheldon in "The Big Bang Theory."

Parsons is close to his co-star Kelly Cuoco who plays the role of Penny in "The Big Bang Theory." Recently, Cuoco got engaged to tennis player, Ryan Sweeting. Parsons is happy for Cuoco and says that Ryan is a "wonderful" person. However, the actor is happy for another reason, too and is waiting to exploit the relationship.

"I'm a big, big tennis fan and he's a tennis player, so I expect to exploit this relationship for all it's worth for tickets to events," Parsons said to PEOPLE. "I want Serena Williams's autograph!"