Sean Penn accepted the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 81^st Annual Oscar Ceremony on Sunday night for his portrayal of Harvey Milk in the filem “Milk”. Mr. Penn told those who supported the California ban on same-sex marriage that, “it is a good time … to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes”

Thank you. Thank you. You commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns. I did not expect this, but I, and I want it to be very clear, that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me often. But I am touched by the appreciation and I hoped for it enough that I did want to scribble down, so I had the names in case you were commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns, and so I want to thank my best friend, Sata Matsuzawa. My circle of long-time support, Mara, Brian, Barry and Bob. The great Cleve Jones. Our wonderful writer, Lance Black. Producers Bruce Cohen and Dan Jinks.

And particularly, as all, as actors know, our director either has the patience, talent and restraint to grant us a voice or they don't, and it goes from the beginning ...   more »

Dustin Lance Black accepted the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay at the 81^st Annual Oscar Ceremony on Sunday night. He gave a personal and impassioned plea for equal rights for glbt people.

Oh my God. This was, um, 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, um, Gus Van Sant, Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, James Franco 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 ...   more »

Dozens of people appeared at a Beverly Hills courthouse this morning to watch two well-known figures in the gay community renew their wedding vows. Standing under a white chuppah and dressed in matching cream-colored suits, Robin Tyler, 66, and Diane Olson, 55, repeated the words they first spoke last June when they were married in a Jewish ceremony.

The two were the original plaintiffs in a 2004 lawsuit challenging the same-sex marriage ban. After their wedding four years later, they believed they were one of the 18,000 same-sex couples legally married. Since the passage of Proposition 8 -- which recognizes marriage as only between a man and a woman as valid in California-- the couple’s marriage has been unsanctioned. They have since filed a lawsuit with the California Supreme Court arguing the amendment should not be retroactive.

“It’s not about marriage,” Tyler said. “Now it’s about the Constitution.”