Leonardo DiCaprio and Charlize Theron presented the Stephen F. Kolzak Award to Steve Warren, an attorney and GLAAD Board of Directors member at Saturday night’s 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, held in Los Angeles. Warren took the opportunity to advocate for the Supreme Court to make the right decision on the Prop 8 and DOMA cases they heard last month, and had a few choice words for Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
Warren spoke immediately before former President Bill Clinton, who noted, “I was very impressed by the speech of my predecessor up here, and I cannot hope to equal it, but I’d like to say amen to it.  It was quite wonderful.”
Watch: Bill Clinton Delivers Speech At GLAAD Awards That Every American Must Hear
Justice Anthony Scalia, Warren told the audience of thousands, “proudly makes pronouncements comparing laws against homosexuality to laws against murder, and places bestiality on par with homosexual conduct.”
“He is unable to distinguish the difference between the “life partner of a homosexual” and ordinary same sex roommates. Has he forgotten that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are core American values? Every American has the right to a life of meaning, with the liberty to choose who we spend that life with, and to pursue happiness through our sexuality and soulfulness. Justice Antonin Scalia is an old-fashioned bully . . . . I may not have had the strength to stand up to the bullies who taunted me in the fifth grade, but I do now. We do now. Justice Antonin Scalia, the bully on high, we are speaking to you. Do the right thing and be the impartial jurist you swore to the American people that you would be when you took your oath of office. It’s not too late.”
Warren also had these words of advice for the Court on DOMA and Prop 8:
“Four weeks ago, Justice Anthony Kennedy remarked that the court is heading into uncharted waters. It can lead to a wonderful destination he said, or to a cliff. I almost wept when I heard these words. They are so true. In fact, all of us in the LGBT community have been living our entire lives in uncharted waters. Each time one of us comes out, each time we commit our love whether privately or publicly, each time we decide to create our own families with children and partners of our own, we plunge head first into those waters. It’s terrifying . . . . Justice Kennedy, please recognize that these waters will not take us over the precipice, but will, in fact, lead us to that wonderful destination you allude to. But don’t just recognize it. Help take us there.”
“[Just as I did], Chief Justice John Roberts attended an Ivy League college followed by Harvard Law School and Harvard Law Review, and built a thriving private practice as well. He, too, has dedicated his life to the protection of his family, clients and country. And has adopted two children of his own. Only one of us, however, was told by their state that their home was not fit for a child, despite all the child proofing and security measures in the world. Only one of us was subjected to the humiliation and degradation of being forced to appeal to a family court judge with the power to overturn that hate filled judgment mandated by then Governor Pete Wilson. How did this happen? It happened because Chief Justice John Roberts was accorded the protections of the U.S. constitution. And I was not.”
Via GLAAD
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