Patricia Arquette: It’s time for gay people to fight for women’s rights
After her Oscar win, Patricia Arquette urged gay people to fight for women’s rights as a means to return the favour for fighting for LGBT rights.
The Oscars was not just a night for the big winners to collect the coveted awards, many used their win to give impassioned speeches about political issues. Patrica Arquette was one of the stars who chose to speak about women’s rights.
Arquette, who won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Boyhood, called on gay people and people from ethnic minorities to join the fight for women’s rights. She claimed that women had fought for their rights and it was time that they helped fight for women.
During her acceptance speech, which was met with an excited reaction from Meryl Streep, Arquette called on support for her cause, claiming women had “fought for everybody else’s equal rights.”
Speaking backstage at the ceremony, she said: “The truth is, even though we sort of feel like we have equal rights in America, right under the surface, there are huge issues that are applied that really do affect women. And 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 colour that we’ve all fought for to fight for us now.”
The actress has been criticised for her comments. Many who were following the show on Twitter claimed she ignored the unique struggles of women who are from ethnic minorities and LGBT.
One Twitter user said: “Nobody tell Patricia Arquette about all the queer women of colour that exist or her brain might explode.”
Arquette said she didn’t understand why “we go around the world and we talk about equal rights for women in other countries and we don’t have equal rights for women in America.”
Some people have mocked Arquette’s speech, saying it was trivial and ignored the struggles of other minority groups.
Recently, Patricia Arquette praised Bruce Jenner for being brave for their transition. Arquette’s sister is a trans woman and the actress said her sister taught her a lot about love.
