Dustin Lance Black delivered an important speech on equality at London Pride over the weekend.
The Oscar-winning screenwriter addressed the masses in Trafalgar Square, as a record-breaking number attended London Pride.
Over 26,000 of the LGBT community and allies turned up for the Pride march, which saw over a million people dressed up on colourful floats and marching in the parade.
Dustin, who married Olympic diver Tom Daley earlier this year, told the audience to use their voice to fight for fairness.
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He asked the audience to interact with each other in the crowd:
“I want everyone in the crowd to find someone they don’t know – go ahead, make eye contact.“
“Hopefully they’re different than you in some way, as different as possible.“
“Make eye contact with them, shake their hand. Don’t be British, goddammit it. Cuddle them, hold them, hug them, kiss them, share your love.“
Black is best known for his Oscar-winning screenplay in 2008 for Milk, a biopic about the gay rights activist Harvey Milk.
Since then, he has been an advocate for gay rights and frequently speaks at LGBTQ rallies.
He continued his speech by expressing the importance of not just showing up for Pride, but to also attend other LGBT events too:
“We are stronger together with our brothers and our sisters, so this cannot be your only moment of visibility, not this year.“
“Not in these times when they’re talking about building walls. You must show up for our brothers and sisters in other social justice movements.“
Dustin then moved onto discussing equality for all minorities, telling the crowd:
“When they come for our brothers and sisters, who are looking for freedom and equality as immigrants to this country and elsewhere, what will we do? We must rise.“
“When they come for our family who prays to a different god, what must we do? We must lock arms, we must rise up, we must defend them and fight back,“ he continued.
“You will march. You will rise up.“
“You will fight back. We will get the pendulum of progress moving forward again.“
