Jessica Chastain spoke out in support of LGBTQ+ community during her Oscars speech

Jessica Chastain took home the best actress Oscar on Sunday night for her role in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” and she used the occasion to bring attention to a cause important to her character’s heart.

Chastain took on the mantle of late TV evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker Messner, who eventually became a champion for the LGBTQ+ community, saying “We’re faced with discriminatory and bigoted legislation that is sweeping our country, with the only goal of further dividing us.”

Many saw this as an allusion to Florida’s divisive “Don’t Say Gay” law, which forbids the teaching of gender identity in some classrooms.

Jessica Chastain went on to mention “the violence and hate crimes being perpetuated on innocent civilians all over the world.”

“In times like this, I think of Tammy and I’m inspired by her radical acts of love,” Chastain said. “I’m inspired by her passion. I see it as a guiding principle that leads us forward, and it connects us all in the desire that we want to be accepted for who we are, accepted for who we love, and to live a life without the fear of violence or terror.”

It was Chastain’s first Academy Award win.

Messner died in 2007 after a long fight with cancer that lasted more than a decade. She was 65 years old at the time.

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