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After winning Best Kiss, 2 'Moonlight' stars gave a thrilling, emotional speech.

Last night's MTV Movie & TV Awards struck a win for equality, diversity, and inclusion, awarding its Best Kiss trophy to Ashton Sanders and Jharrel Jerome for "Moonlight."

The pair accepted the award with an emotional speech, affirming the symbolism of their win for the LGBTQ community, many of whom may not be used to seeing their experiences represented on screen.

"This represents more than a kiss. This is for those who feel like the others, the misfits. This represents us," Sanders said, as he held his popcorn trophy for the first time.

"Moonlight," which follows the lives of two friends growing up in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood, won rave reviews for its three-dimensional depiction of LGBT characters, and its nuanced, unconventional roles for actors of color — which Jerome triumphantly shouted out in his acceptance speech.

"It is OK for us young performers, especially us minority performers, to step out of the box and do whatever it takes to tell the story and do whatever it takes to make a change," the actor said.  

Same-sex pairs have won MTV's "Best Kiss" award before, but mostly for "joke" smooches. Previous winners include Jason Biggs and Seann William Scott for "American Pie 2," and Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen for "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby."

Sanders' and Jerome's victory was the first for an actual same-sex romantic pair since Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal won for "Brokeback Mountain" in 2006.

Predictably, the internet was overjoyed.

Sanders and Jerome's epic victory wasn't the only revelation at the MTV Movie & TV Awards this year.

This year, the Movie & TV Awards became first major awards show to make its acting category gender neutral.

And its "Best Fight" category was recast as an award for Best Fight Against the System, which went to Taraji P. Henson for her portrayal of NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson in "Hidden Figures."

With more small steps like these, awards shows can help ensure that the world offscreen — in its infinite complexity — is the one being represented on-screen as well.

Lives and relationships come in all combinations, shapes, and sizes.

Props to the MTV Movie & TV Awards for not just recognizing that, but celebrating it too.

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Mahershala Ali, a Muslim, makes history with his big Oscar win for 'Moonlight.'

Mahershala Ali made history on Feb. 26, 2017.

He won Best Actor in a Supporting Role at the 89th Academy Awards for his standout job in "Moonlight." With it, Ali became the first Muslim to snag an Oscar in an acting category.*

In his emotional speech, Ali thanked his past acting teachers, his co-stars in the film, and his wife, who gave birth to Ali's first child just days ago.

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images.

Ali's win comes at a tumultuous time for Muslims in the West. Hate crimes targeting their communities have risen sharply in the U.S., a terrorist attacked a mosque in Quebec City on Jan. 29, 2017, killing six people and injuring others (President Donald Trump's silence in the shooting's aftermath spoke volumes), and within days of his inauguration, one of Trump's first executive orders was banning travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries — a controversial move that has since been blocked in court.

Ali's historic victory is important in showing that Muslims are our neighbors, our teachers, our leaders, our friends — and, now, Oscar winners too.

*Ellen Burstyn won Best Actress for "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" in 1975. Her faith is a blend of many religions, including Sufism, which is a form of Islam.

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4 powerful moments in 'Moonlight' that illustrate why it won Best Drama at the Golden Globes.

"At some point, you’ve got to decide for yourself who you’re going to be."

On Jan. 8, 2017, "Moonlight" won Best Motion Picture — Drama at the Golden Globe Awards.

The film follows the life of Chiron, an African-American boy born into poverty in Southern Florida, as he wrestles with his sexual identity, dangerous bullies at school, and growing up with an abusive, drug-addicted mom.

Photo by David Bornfriend, courtesy of A24.

Shedding a light on the powerful forces of race, class, homophobia, and addiction, "Moonlight" offers the type of unique perspective that doesn't just tug at heartstrings and win awards — it challenges us to think critically about important issues, too.

Here are four powerful moments in “Moonlight” that illustrate just how important the film really is:

1. You see the gut-wrenching realities of bullying among kids who are, or who are perceived to be, LGBTQ.

In the film, young Chiron (played by Alex R. Hibbert) is forced to hide in an abandoned building after being chased down by boys slinging homophobic slurs.

Later in the film, the bullies are more successful. When teenaged Chiron (played by Ashton Sanders) is in high school, he's brutally beaten up by someone he believed to be a friend. That gut-wrenching scene ends in bloodshed.

Photo by David Bornfriend, courtesy of A24.

Bullying is a problem for many, especially LGBTQ youth, who are 91% more likely than their heterosexual peers to be bullied, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2015.

Seeing bullying play out on the big screen brings that statistic to life.

2. You see how the power of addiction can rip apart families and destroy childhoods.

At one point, teenage Chiron is assaulted by his mother (Naomie Harris), who begs him for cash in order to feed her drug addiction.

Courtesy of A24.

It's a gripping scene that shows how addiction can transform even the most doting parent into a physical and emotional abuser. It also reflects an America grappling with its own addiction crises with opioids and heroin.  

3. You see the complexity in people and why even the "bad guys" can turn out to be the heroes.

In the film, Chiron befriends prominent Miami drug dealer Juan (Mahershala Ali), who ends up feeding him, housing him, and accepting him for who he is — regardless of Chiron's sexual orientation.

Photo by David Bornfriend, courtesy of A24.

While Juan's work in the drug industry has inarguably caused harm — you can see its direct effect on Chiron's own mother — you also see how Juan's compassion saves Chiron, helping him survive his tumultuous childhood.

"At some point, you’ve got to decide for yourself who you’re going to be," Juan says in a pivotal moment on screen. "You can’t let nobody make that decision for you."

4. You see Chiron kiss a boy, Kevin (Jharrel Jerome), on the beach...

Photo by David Bornfriend, courtesy of A24.

...and then come back to his hometown as an adult (played by Trevante Rhodes) years later to find Kevin (André Holland) once again.

Photo by David Bornfriend, courtesy of A24.

It's still too rare to see same-sex love on screen — especially LGBTQ love scenes between young men of color.

Media representation matters. And to thousands of boys and men watching the complicated, contentious, and beautiful scenes between Chiron and Kevin, "Moonlight" has made a difference.

Stories like Chiron's matter. And it's not every day that films like "Moonlight" get the Hollywood recognition they deserve.

Congratulations to the cast and crew of "Moonlight" — not only on their Golden Globe win, but for creating a piece of art that will stay in the hearts and minds of many for years to come.

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