“I think if the world were a fair and just place, there wouldn't even need to be a gay label.” IfsThinkingWorldNeedsGayFairsLabels Author:Beth Ditto
“My mom will never march in a gay pride parade with a big sign. She is very private. She lives in Chattanooga. She tries so hard to understand me and my life. But she said to me once, "Leslie, if I live to be 105 I'll never understand this need you have to air your dirty laundry. Why can't you just whisper it to a therapist?!" She doesn't understand.” IfsNeedsTryingSaidHardBigsAirPrideMomGayMy MomDirtyMarchNeed YouTherapistsParadesLaundryUnderstand MeGay PrideLeslieDirty Laundry Author:Leslie Jordan
“I've once gotten in trouble with certain gay activists because I'm not gay enough! I am a morose homosexual. I'm melancholy. Gay is the last adjective I would use to describe myself. The idea of being gay, like a little sparkler, never occurs to me. So if you ask me if I'm gay, I say no.” IfsLittlesIdeasEnoughUseLastsCertainAsksTroubleGayAsk MeMelancholyActivistHomosexualAdjectivesBeing GayDescribe MyselfMorose Author:Richard Rodriguez
“For them [LGBT group], language has to say exactly what it means. "Why aren't you proud of being gay?" they wanted to know. "Why are you so dark? Why are you so morbid? Why are you so sad? Don't you realize, we're all okay? Let's celebrate that fact." But that is not what writers do. We don't celebrate being "okay." If you want to be okay, take an aspirin.” IfsKnowsWantMeanFactsWantedLanguageRealizingDarkGroupsProudGayOkayCelebrateLgbtMorbidBeing GaySo SadAspirinBeing Okay Author:Richard Rodriguez
“There are words that I wouldn't say because they hurt people's feelings. I just happen to be a white guy who writes for a lot of black comedians but if I wrote for a lot of gay comedians there might be stuff I would say then.” PeopleIfsWritingFeelingsMightHappensGuyStuffBlackHurtWhiteGayComedianWhite Guys Author:Neal Brennan
“It's a lot easier being black than gay. At least if you're black you don't have to tell your parents.” IfsParentBlackEasierGayCynicism Author:Judy Carter
“It's just like calling homosexuals 'gays.' Gay means happy! You know, it's just to try to dilute it so that it becomes socially acceptable, and if you say anything against homosexual marriage or anything - 'Oh, you're not tolerant.' So we're supposed to prostitute our principles, on behalf of tolerance.” IfsKnowsTryingMeanPrinciplesCallingGayToleranceAcceptableHomosexualSay AnythingBehalfHomosexual Marriage Author:Ted Cruz
“What has become clear to me is that it is not the inherent nature of being gay that causes such a reduced life; it is, rather, the social circumstances around being gay: the perceptions of it and the cultural norms that it is said to violate. As some of those norms have changed, I have been able to be gay, to have a marriage, to have a family, and to have - if there is wood to knock on - a fortunate and happy life.” IfsHas BeensSaidAbleSocialCausesClearChangedCircumstancesGayPerceptionWoodsFortunateHappy LifeInherentNormBeing Gay Author:Andrew Solomon
“When I remember how unhappy I was in adolescence - about the fact that, though I wasn't really using the term to or for myself, I knew that I was gay - I think, "Oh, if someone then could have shown me just an hour in the life that I have now, I would have made it through all of that misery and despair just fine." The pain lay in thinking that I had a desolate future.” IfsThinkingMadeFactsPainRememberTermHoursFineGayDespairLaysMiseryUnhappyMade ItAdolescenceDesolate Author:Andrew Solomon
“I got into my first serious relationship with a man when I was twenty-three. I had, before that, sort of a typical, sad history of relatively promiscuous sexual encounters with men I didn't know, because I felt that if I were involved with people I did know, other people would know that I was gay, and it was something that I needed to keep so secret.” PeopleIfsKnowsMenFirstsThreeFeltSecretSeriousNeededInvolvedGayTwentiesEncountersTypicalPromiscuousSerious Relationship Author:Andrew Solomon
“If you don't want to have gay weddings in Mormon churches, that's fine. That's absolutely up to the members of the faith or the leadership of the faith. I would never suggest that the Mormon Church has to consecrate gay unions. But homosexuality runs at a fairly constant rate through all populations. There are many gay Mormons.” IfsWantRunningChurchFineGayMembersConstantUnionsRatePopulationHomosexuality Author:Andrew Solomon
“The absence of marriages will result in all kinds of financial burdens that gay people wouldn't face if they could get married.” PeopleIfsKindFacesResultsGayMarriedFinancialBurdenAbsenceAll KindsGay PeopleFinancial Burden Author:Andrew Solomon
“The absence of marriages will result in all kinds of financial burdens that gay people wouldn't face if they could get married. If my brother gets hit by a car tomorrow, my sister-in-law will go on living materially in the same way that she does now. If the same thing happens to me, a great deal of what I have will go off to the taxman. That's because of one of, as you doubtless know, eleven hundred federal laws that favor marriage.” PeopleIfsKnowsWayKindDoeHappensFacesLawResultsDealsCarBrotherGoes OnTomorrowGayMarriedHundredFinancialBurdenAbsenceFavorsThings HappenAll KindsMy BrotherMy SisterElevenIn-lawsGay PeopleSister In LawFinancial Burden Author:Andrew Solomon
“If I understand correctly, part of the objection to homosexuality used to have to do with the fact that gay people didn't reproduce. Part of it seems to have to do, as a lot of Christian resistance to gayness does, with a dim view of sex that is not procreative, and that is therefore lascivious.” PeopleIfsDoeFactsSeemsChristianUsedSexViewsGayResistanceHomosexualityObjectionsGay PeopleGayness Author:Andrew Solomon
“I do think that if the Church can see its way to greater tolerance, Church members will have greater exposure to gay people, and the lives of those gay people will be better.” PeopleIfsThinkingWayChurchGreaterGayMembersToleranceExposureGay PeopleChurch Members Author:Andrew Solomon
“There's a truly unbelievable story in the paper today, that a young brother and sister... have been turned down for adoption by their own grandparents... If that weren't enough, the siblings are now to be adopted by two complete strangers against the wishes of the grandparents... And as if that weren't enough, the two strangers are a gay couple, who have been selected ahead of several heterosexual couples.” IfsHas BeensTwoEnoughStoriesTodayYoungWishBrotherCoupleGayPaperStrangerAdoptionGrandparentBrothers And SistersUnbelievableAdoptedSiblingSelectedTurned DownGay CouplesYoung Brother Author:Andrea Leadsom
“I've never dated anyone because they were vegetarian, just like I'm gay but don't only go to gay bars. I hang out with people because they are fun, smart, and kind, and if they happen to be veg I'm thrilled.” PeopleIfsKindHappensFunGaySmartBarsHanging OutVegetarian Author:Dan Mathews
“If we were to sit and discuss abortion and legalizing marijuana and gay marriage and all those things, you'd be surprised where you'd see me on the side of some of that stuff. People get their opinions - as soon as you're a real flag-waving patriot, then all of a sudden you're a conservative.” PeopleIfsRealStuffSidesOpinionGayConservativeAbortionFlagsMarijuanaPatriotGay MarriageLegalizing MarijuanaFlag Waving Author:Toby Keith
“There came [a script called] “Dracula Sucks.” Now, I liked “Dracula Sucks,” but we gotta change [the title]. They said, “If you like that, you’re going to like this: ‘Zorro the Gay Blade.’” I decided I was going to go out and raise the money and develop my own projects. And that’s what I did. I made “Love at First Bite” and I made “Zorro the Gay Blade.” [Script rewriter Hal Dresner] and I put together “Zorro” in about eight weeks.” IfsFirstsMadeSaidTogetherMy OwnWeekGayProjectsDecidedRaisesScriptsEightTitlesBitesThey SaidBladesZorro Author:George Hamilton
“If you find yourself in a relationship or even a friendship with someone who's conflicted with their gender identity, just be kind. This is not a life choice. This is something that you are born with. This is like being born with a gene for being tall, short, black, white, gay, straight - it's not a choice.” IfsKindChoicesBlackBornWhiteIdentityGayGenderFinding YourselfTallBe KindGenesLife ChoicesGender IdentityBlack White Author:Linda D. Thompson
“Movie stars exaggerate certain things to let the audience know they're just playing a character, as if they're saying, "Look at me, I'm not really an old man, I'm just playing one." Or "I'm not really a homosexual, I'm just playing a gay character. Or an alcoholic. Or somebody who's mentally impaired." They often do it very successfully and win awards for it.” IfsKnowsMenLooksCharacterCertainWinningStarsAudienceGayOld ManAwardsHomosexualLook At MeMovie StarAlcoholics Author:Curtis Hanson
“I would love if gay men responded to me. All I want is for many gay men to dress up as me for Halloween.” IfsMenWantWomenGayDressesHalloweenGay MenHalloween And Friends Author:Mindy Kaling
“I look at my little ones and I love them so much. I think to myself, "By God, if my son is gay, it's not that he was turned or learned into it. My son, his soul, the way he was born ... this is him.” IfsThinkingWayLooksLittlesSoulBornSonGayMy Son Author:Michael Buble
“Love doesn't care if you're gay, straight, or transgender. Your heart's gonna get broken. You're gonna turn into a crazy person.” IfsHeartPersonsCareTurnsCrazyBrokenGayTransgenderCrazy Person Author:Rumer Willis
“I don't understand if the conservative movement says you can't be gay and conservative, and I'm straight, then I don't think I can abide by that form of conservatism.” IfsThinkingI CanFormMovementGayConservativeConservatism Author:Andrew Breitbart
“In Hollywood especially, if you're gay and conservative, it's worse to be a conservative in the gay community than it is to be a conservative in Hollywood.” IfsCommunityGayHollywoodConservativeGay Community Author:Andrew Breitbart
“There was no way to have a decent life and to be gay. So I was terrified that I was going to be caught, and I had already experienced quite a bit of bullying. And, you know, I just thought that only misery lay ahead, and that if I - when I got caught that would be the solution. I wish I could say that was a thing of the past. But, you know, it's not.” IfsKnowsWayWould BePastWishBitsGaySolutionsLaysMiseryCaughtDecentBullyingTerrifiedDecent Life Author:Cleve Jones
“If there was criticism about [Oscar Wilde], it was because it was written by a straight man who wasn't very educated about the gay world.” IfsMenWorldWrittenGayCriticismEducatedOscarsWilde Author:Kevin Sessums
“There was a lot really awful about that time [in fifties] if you were gay.” IfsGayAwful Author:Kevin Sessums
“Back in Kansas City, I associated Harvard with sort of gnarly guys who wore capes for effect in a kind of Oscar Wilde scene. Even though I also knew there was such a thing as the Harvard-Yale game, I was still a little surprised that Harvard had a football team. I just assumed if there were such a thing as gay people, that they were nothing like us. Little did I know that probably half the swim team at Yale was gay.” PeopleIfsKnowsKindLittlesStillsGuyGamesCitiesHalfTeamEffectsFootballSceneGaySwimOscarsHarvardGay PeopleFootball TeamKansasYaleCapesWildeKansas CityGnarlySwim Team Author:Kevin Sessums
“[Robert Gottlieb] wouldn't have published 'Remembering Denny' . Denny was a Rhodes Scholar. He was on the swimming team. Had this great California crew cut and this great smile. Life magazine covered his graduation, and Alfred Eisenstaedt photographed it. We all expected him to be president some day. But he committed suicide when he was in his 50s. If he were gay in the 1950s, then the rest of what I wrote was commentary because life was so miserable for gay men back then. And that's why he committed suicide.” IfsMenRememberPresidentCuttingTeamGaySuicideCommittedExpectedMagazinesMiserableCaliforniaCoveredSwimmingScholarCrewCommentaryGay MenSwim Team Author:Kevin Sessums
“I say that is because those are the times where sometimes you feel actually a little bit hurt. Because you feel like saying to these folks, "[Don't] you think if I could do it, I [would] have just done it. Do you think that the only problem is that I don't care enough about the plight of poor people, or gay people, or immigrants, or ...?"” PeopleIfsThinkingFeelsLittlesSometimesDoneEnoughProblemCareBitsHurtPoorGayLittle BitFolksDon't CareI Don't CareIf I CouldImmigrantsIt HurtsPoor PeopleGay PeoplePlight Author:Barack Obama
“I felt a variation of the fear that a lot of gay people have, that their families will reject them. I thought if I were to come out to the world then I would risk losing them.” PeopleIfsWorldFeltRiskGayLosingRejectsVariationGay People Author:Candace Gingrich-Jones
“There's not much more to do on the gay agenda. They got gay marriage, and we're close to putting you in jail if you won't bake a cake for a gay wedding. We've got pretty much everything, but you have to keep the group happy.” IfsGroupsGayAgendasJailCakeGay Marriage Author:Rush Limbaugh
“I don't care if you're talking about gay, straight, black, white, how in the name of hell can you guarantee that nobody will ever feel unwelcome? I have felt it unwelcome everywhere I've been in life. Everybody else has, too. I mean, not everywhere, but it happens.” IfsFeelsMeanHappensCareNamesFeltBlackWhiteTalkingHellGayDon't CareI Don't CareGuaranteesGuarantees ThatBlack WhiteUnwelcome Author:Rush Limbaugh
“We think that if we get tested, that means you have to have HIV. Or we think that just by knowing someone with HIV, we're going to get HIV or because he's gay or she's a lesbian or whatever. This false information has been put out there and it's created this stigma that stops us from going to find out if we're infected. The truth is it doesn't matter who you are, if you're having sex, you need to be getting tested, plain and simple.” IfsThinkingNeedsMeanHas BeensMatterSexSimpleKnowingInformationTruth IsGayWho You AreTestedHivStigmaHaving SexPlain And SimpleKnowing Someone Author:Jay Ellis
“I want my gay life to not wind up on the streets-on Second Avenue. But at the same time, I don't care if it does.” IfsWantDoeCareStreetsWindGayDon't CareI Don't CareAvenuesGay Life Author:Jack Pierson
“I would say except when I have been attacked the black community has seldom seen fit to even mention the gay aspect. And since when I have been attacked I have usually been defended by the black community, I would say that the black newspapers have played it very straight. If I was attacked they simply published that I was attacked, if I was defended they simply said I had been defended. But I don't think they have taken any effort at maligning me or maligning gays or making any effort to give to people anything that wasn't news.” PeopleIfsThinkingGivingHas BeensSaidBlackCommunityEffortTakenFitGayNewsAspectNewspapersBlack CommunitySimply Said Author:Bayard Rustin
“If people do not organize in the name of their interest, the world will not take them as being serious. And that is the chief reason that every person who is gay should join some gay organization. Because he must prove to the world that he cares about his own freedom.” PeopleIfsWorldShouldPersonsReasonCareNamesInterestSeriousGayProveOrganizationChiefsOrganize Author:Bayard Rustin
“If we want to do away with the injustice to gays it will not be done because we get rid of the injustice to gays. It will be done because we are forwarding the effort for the elimination of injustice to all. And we will win the rights for gays, or blacks, or Hispanics, or women within the context of whether we are fighting for all.” IfsWantDoneFightingWinningEffortRightsGayInjusticeEliminationWe Will Win Author:Bayard Rustin
“If anyone thinks they're going to get anything out of the Reagan administration for any particular group, they're wrong! You have to all combine and fight a head-on battle - in the name of justice and equality - and even that's going to be difficult. But if we let ourselves get separated so that we're working for gays or school children or the aged, we're in trouble.” IfsThinkingChildrenSchoolFightingNamesDifficultJusticeTroubleGroupsParticularGayBattleAdministrationEquality And Justice Author:Bayard Rustin
“If you listen to the debate, [Barack Obama] and [John] McCain said the same thing about gay rights.” IfsSaidRightsGayDebateBarackGay RightsMccain Author:Bill Ayers
“[John] McCain seemed to be winking to the Right, and [Barack] Obama seemed to be winking to the Left. Neither one of them - if McCain had been elected we'd still be where we are on gay rights.” IfsStillsLeftRightsGayBarackGay RightsMccainWinking Author:Bill Ayers
“Even there, [Barack] Obama's generals, his Pentagon, they're telling him what to do. And the force for gay rights is inevitable. And you can say Obama will help us, and maybe he will, but only if we have something on the ground that will make him help us. Frankly, the gay movement on the ground has been one of the great propulsive things that has made politicians do what they do.” IfsHas BeensMadeHelpingForceRightsMovementPoliticianGayBarackInevitableGay RightsPentagon Author:Bill Ayers
“If a bunch of activists want to create the concept of "gay infertility" and then tax all the rest of us to compensate them for the fact that they can't have babies, then that's gonna happen. You haven't missed anything yet. I'm just teasing you as to what's coming. Gays now think it's not fair they can't have babies, so they're calling that "infertility," and it will require mandatory health insurance because of it. Yeah, I know they're not infertile but that doesn't matter; they can't have babies.” IfsThinkingKnowsWantMatterFactsHappensHavensBabyCallingGayTaxesConceptsFairsYeahBunchActivistTeaseNot FairInfertility Author:Rush Limbaugh
“If gay marriage is a real thing, gay infertility must be a real thing. It's not fair. I mean, it wasn't fair they couldn't get married, and now it's not fair that they can't have babies, even though they're not infertile, that doesn't matter. And so there must be access to infertility insurance for married gay couples, if our culture and if our society is to be fair and equal for one and all, and it is coming, and don't laugh about it.” IfsMeanRealMatterCultureLaughingBabyCoupleGayEqualMarriedFairsAccessOur SocietyGay MarriageReal ThingsNot FairInfertilityGay Couples Author:Rush Limbaugh
“Faggot never meant "gay" when I was a kid. You kind of knew that you could call a gay person faggot if you were ignorant, but nobody ever called someone a faggot if they were gay.” IfsKindPersonsKidsGayIgnorant Author:Joe Rogan
“If we [gays] want to be equal under the law, we must now - as the great heroes of the Civil Rights movement of 1963 and 1964 showed us - turn our attention to the federal government.” IfsWantGovernmentLawTurnsAttentionRightsMovementHeroGayEqualCivil RightsFederal GovernmentCivil Rights MovementGreat Hero Author:Cleve Jones
“I am old school, I joined the gay liberation movement in 1972. If you had told me in 1972 that in the year 2009 I would be campaigning for the right to join the army or get married I think I would have started dating women at that time.” IfsThinkingYearsWould BeSchoolMovementGayMarriedDatingArmyLiberationOld SchoolCampaigningJoining The ArmyGay Liberation Author:Cleve Jones
“Men in America were terrified that if women got an equal say in society, the system would collapse and their lives would be valued less. Whites in America were scared that if blacks obtained their freedom and equality, the system would collapse and their lives would be devalued. Heterosexuals are terrified that the psychotic institution of marriage will collapse if gays are given their right to marry. And humans are terrified that if animals are liberated and no longer viewed as inferior subordinates, human life will be valued less.” IfsMenHumansWould BeAmericaGivenAnimalGayEqualInstitutionsScaredHuman LifeCollapseInferiorsTerrifiedLiberatedSubordinatesPsychoticFreedom And Equality Author:Gary Yourofsky