Two cups of 'Milk'

Joy in the Castro as Penn wins Oscar for 'Milk'

Hundreds of people who watched the Academy Awards from San Francisco's Castro Theatre on Sunday night gave polite applause to "Slumdog Millionaire" - which won best picture and seven other awards - but roared with foot-stomping standing ovations for "Milk" when it took the prizes for best original screenplay and best actor.

"You commie, homo-loving sons of guns," Sean Penn told the academy upon accepting the best actor award for his portrayal of the slain San Francisco Supervisor and gay rights leader Harvey Milk. "I did not expect this, and I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me often."

And more pics and speech transcriptions, etc at Towleroad.

Dustin Lance Black: "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 to one day live my life openly as who I am and that maybe even I could fall in love and one day get married. I want to 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 or 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."

I and a pal had a great time at the Academy of Friends gala. Seeing Lance and Sean win were the highlights, as were the interesting figures of some gold-tights-clad models, in a hybrid "superhero" theme and no doubt economical costume decision for the creative team.

However, the VPL bulges amused others greatly; some telling the time at 3 o'clock, 9 o'clock, or in one case, high noon. Too bad I didn't bring my camera.


Gold dudes from last year. photo: Steven Underhill