London, February 25 : Sean Penn has slammed anti-gay campaigners who gathered outside the recent Academy Awards to scuffle against same-sex weddings.

The actor bagged the Best Actor gong at the ceremony for his performance in `Milk' based on the life of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California.

Speaking backstage on would he would like to say to the demonstrators, the 48-year-old expressed his disappointment with those in favour of a ban on gay marriages in California.

"I''d tell them to turn in their hate card and find their better self," the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

"It''s very sad in a way, because it''s a demonstration of such emotional cowardice, to be so afraid of extending the same rights to your fellow man as you would want for yourself," he added. (ANI)