IMHO: Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black's gay rights speeches at the Oscars

Dustin Lance Black and his Oscar for Milk's screenplay

By now we know that Sunday night was a very gay night at the Oscars, and I’m not just talking about the musical numbers. Sunday night was also a night when the entire community celebrated as Milk took home two wins, one for Best Original Screenplay for Dustin Lance Black, and of course Best Actor for Sean Penn.

Most of the blogosphere has been buzzing about the two heavily political speeches that followed said wins, and while all of what was said needed to be said, there was something that stuck out to me in both of that functions as a cautionary tale of what I believe is currently going on with the gay rights movement.

Both Penn and Black spoke out passionately about marriage equality, as has every gay celebrity on every red carpet, most of our famous straight allies, and, well, pretty much all of the real LGBT leaders that are doing the hard work on the front lines of our cause.

But what is that cause exactly? Black and Penn’s speeches are indicative of what I see as aa large-scale problem within the movement right now -- that problem being the one that casts marriage equality as the bottom line of the gay rights struggle. (On a side note, the fact that Penn’s speech is getting all of the attention over the one given by the real-live gay man who won shocks me very little given the nature of celebrity and Hollywood politics.)

Sean Penn holds his Best Actor Academy Award for Milk

When was the last time we heard talk about homeless gay youth, the fact that our country still doesn’t allow gays to serve openly in the military, or the fact that in many states you can still be fired for being gay?

I would venture that those issues affect far more gays and lesbians than that of marriage equality, but they are continually ignored for the pro gay marriage bit that has become the safe haven for the nice hetero Hollywood liberals who are given entirely too much praise and attention from our community.

Now don’t go lighting the torches just yet. I fully believe in the equal rights that extend to marriage. And of course I love our allies and the fact that a very good, very gay film won two Oscars. But these speeches tell me it’s time to broaden what is quickly becoming a singularly-focused agenda, to get celebs talking and people thinking about these other issues, because they’re just as important and just as beneficial to the community.

I believe in my heart that there will be marriage equality for our community in the not too distant future, but we should make sure we’re giving a voice to and doing everything to put an end to all the other inequalities, too.