Patricia Arquette took home the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 87th Oscars for her work in Boyhood last night.
She also took the opportunity to make a statement on equal pay for women in America:
"To every woman who gave birth to every citizen and taxpayer of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights," she said. "It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America."
Meryl Streep leapt out of her chair at these words, shouting and pumping her hands in support. Jennifer Lopez followed suit.
The room erupted with applause as Arquette then thanked her co-stars and left the stage.
But Patricia wasn’t finished there. The first-time Oscar winner had more to say to reporters after the show,
It’s time for women. Equal means equal. The truth is the older women get, the less money they make. The highest percentage of children living in poverty are in female-headed households. It’s inexcusable that we go around the world and we talk about equal rights for women in other countries and we don’t.
One of those superior court justices said two years ago in a law speech at a university that we don’t have equal rights for women in America and we don’t because when they wrote Constitution, they didn’t intend it for women. So the truth is even though we sort of feel like we have equal rights in America right under the surface there are huge issues at play that really do affect women.
It’s time for all the women in America, and all the men that love women and all the gay people and all the people of color that we’ve all fought for to fight for us now.
Arquette has officially called "all the gay people and all the people of color that we’ve all fought for to fight for us now." And in so doing, she’s likened the struggle of women to the civil rights issues of other minorities in the US.
The audience enjoyed Arquette’s remarks, and seemed to enjoy the opportunity to take a progressive stand on a subject. Especially since a little later, Sean Penn’s racist joke would land flat and find him in hot water.
Not to mention the fact that the the Academy snubbed Selma, along with just about every actor/actress of color out there.
Latinos were well represented in the winner’s circle last night as well, but Arquette’s speech should be considered the much-needed soapbox moment of an other wise tame night.