Just two years after Oscar snubbed best-picture front-runner "Brokeback Mountain," gay leaders wonder if they just got slapped deliberately again by Golden Boy. Outrage continues to build over how Oscar chiefs chose to stage the presentation of the award for best documentary short. It was bestowed by U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine troops in Iraq. Surely, Oscar leaders must've realized that a gay-themed nominee, "Freeheld," might win and the award presentation would be an awkward setup.

Indeed, "Freeheld" triumphed, thus rewarding an expose about the heroic struggle of a lesbian police officer dying of cancer who wanted to bequeath her pension benefits to her partner, just like married heterosexuals can do.

"The irony here, of course, is that soldiers can't leave their benefits to their partners or even be openly gay in the military," notes Andy Humm, co-host of TV news show "Gay U.S.A." Listen to the program's podcast HERE

Typical of the outrage expressed across the blogosphere is this observation at CourtingEquality.com: "'Freeheld' demonstrates that the freedom and liberty that some LGBT citizens fight for abroad are not theirs at home."

"Probably no one planning this year’s show thought about the hypocrisy of having the military, which bans openly gay and lesbian soldiers from service, announce" the winner, noted the New Jersey Bergen Record. "It may go down as the ultimate Oscar irony."

Below is a video clip of the presentation on Oscar night. Notice how clueless the presenters seem to be about the ironic scene. (Entertainment Weekly tells the back story HERE.) Ignoring it with great diplomacy is winner Cynthia Wade, a heterosexual New York filmmaker who produced and directed "Freeheld."

"It was Lt. Laurel Hester's dying wish that her fight against discrimination would make a difference for all the same-sex couples across the country that face discrimination every single day — discrimination that I don't face as a married woman," she said, accepting the Oscar.