Monday, February 23, 2009

Oscars



The Oscars have been given out and the media is full of the 8 wins for Slum Dog, and the best actress Oscar for Kate Winslet .... and then .... nothing.

Oh, sometimes in passing then the Oscar for best actor for Sean Penn in Milk is referred to but I have yet to hear his name in a headline.

and oh yes, Dustin Lance Black won best original screenplay for Milk too. His acceptance speech was short but oh so sweet.

"Oh my God. This was not an easy film to make. First off, I have to thank Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg and all the real-life people who shared their stories with me. And Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn, and our entire cast, my producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen, everyone at Groundswell and Focus for taking on the challenge of telling this life-saving story.

When I was 13 years old, my beautiful mother and my father moved me from a conservative Mormon home in San Antonio, Texas to California, and I heard the story of Harvey Milk. And it gave me hope. It gave me the hope to live my life. It gave me the hope one day I could live my life openly as who I am and then maybe even I could even fall in love and one day get married.

I wanna thank my mom, who has always loved me for who I am even when there was pressure not to. But most of all, if Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he'd want me to say to all of the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told that they are less than by their churches, by the government or by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights federally, across this great nation of ours.

Thank you. Thank you. And thank you, God, for giving us Harvey Milk".

1 comment:

Dave R said...

Amen to all that! Pity Sean Penn isn't gay but nobody can deny he does a great job and is utterly convincing. We cackle on about equal rights but if there's a gay actor who could get closer to the spirit of Harvey Milk then what's he doing out of work!!