Steve Warren, member of GLAAD's Board of Directors and recent recipient of GLAAD's Stephen F. Kolzak Award, called on Justice Clarence Thomas and the rest of the Supreme Court justices to act against the so-called Defense of Marriage Act and Prop. 8 at the 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco on Saturday night. Check out the video of his remarks below:
Warren called out Justice Clarence Thomas:
"Because the Clarence and Virginia Thomas’s of the world are accorded the protections of the U.S. Constitution and we are not. Our basic civil rights are currently being experimented with in 50 different state laboratories. Many of which have little or no hope of ridding themselves of the prejudice and hate that still exists in so much of our country. It pains me to think of what could have been for our relationships, including my own of 26 years, if our nation had embraced all of us, and given us the love, respect and support given to heterosexual couples, of all races. We need, we deserve, and we are rightfully entitled as American citizens to be included under the shield of the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment."
And also spoke to Justice Antonin Scalia:
"When Justice Antonin Scalia, a man who has repeatedly debased our families and our community, takes up this line of attack, and looks to one side and sees Justice Thomas and to his other side and sees Chief Justice Roberts, two men who have created their families through the beauty of adoption, just as I have done myself with my daughter Katie, we would all hope that the hypocrisy of this argument would dawn on him and move him."
Warren also stated:
Warren was presented with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award at the 24th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles on April 20. During his acceptance of the award, presented by his friends Leonardo DiCaprio and Charlize Theron, Warren urged Justices Roberts and Kennedy to act against DOMA and Prop. 8 and spoke out against Justice Scalia’s hateful and anti-gay remarks.
The Stephen F. Kolzak award is presented to an openly LGBT media professional who has made a significant difference in promoting equality for our community. Previous recipients include Ellen DeGeneres, Sir Ian McKellen, Bill Condon, Wanda Sykes, Alan Ball and Robert Greenblatt.
Warren, a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, has been a practicing entertainment lawyer for twenty-seven years. He is a name partner at Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush & Kaller, LLP, specializing in the representation of actors, directors and writers. He served as the first out gay man on the Board of Trustees for his daughter's school, the Center for Early Education, and currently serves as the first out gay man on the Board of Trustees at the Archer School for Girls. Warren joined GLAAD's Board of Directors in 2010, and currently serves on the Executive Committee.