“I'm one of those gay people who's constantly reminded of how fortunate I am to live now and not to be Ennis and Jack [from Brokeback Mountain] or whatever - not that I'd mind being Ennis for half an hour. But it's been so much worse recently. It still is terrible. In Iran, they're hanging gay teenagers. I'm grateful for how far the United States, even with its crazy Christians, has come on a lot of issues. And the fact that I get called a faggot occasionally by a crack addict, while annoying, certainly isn't a lobotomy and prison.” PeopleMindStillsStatesFactsChristianHoursUnitedHalfUnited StatesIssuesCrazyTerribleGayMountainGratefulPrisonTeenagerFortunateIranCracksAnnoyingAddictGay PeopleLobotomyBrokeback Mountain Author:Dan Savage
“A lot of young people regard a threat against one person's sexual freedom as a threat against all of them, and that's absolutely how they should regard it. But it's heartening to look at the polls on young people on gay people, gay marriage, and sexual-freedom issues. They're terrific, and that's why the religious right is so desperately trying to lock in their current bare majority for prejudice: because their constituents are dying. They're losing votes every time the ambulance pulls up to the old folks' home. Let's hope it pulls up a little more frequently.” PeopleShouldTryingLooksLittlesPersonsHomeYoungReligiousIssuesDyingGayLosingVotePrejudiceRegardMajorityThreatFolksCurrentsLocksPollsTerrificGay MarriageGay PeopleConstituentsAmbulancePull UpsFolks Home Author:Dan Savage
“You can't have Rosie on The View and Elton John packing Mom and Pop in at Caesars Palace and gay people all over television, and then have these politicians run out there with a straight face and say that gay and lesbian relationships are a threat to the family. We are winning in the culture - which is why we'll ultimately win the political war.” PeopleWarRunningFacesPoliticalCultureWinningViewsTelevisionMomPoliticianGayThreatPopsPalacesGay PeoplePackingRosieStraight Face Author:Dan Savage
“I don't know many people who don't have somebody in their family who's a part of the gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender community. It's not like they're aliens or outsiders. This is family.” PeopleKnowsCommunityGayAliensOutsidersTransgenderBisexual Author:Cyndi Lauper
“I still come from a very working-class family. My mother's still a cleaner. And my brother is the gas man. And my other brother runs a cab. I have become a stratified, different, exotic beast, even more so than I was when I was a young gay man. I just sort of built on that. Now that I've made several films, I don't even know how to placate them with money like so many people do with their families.” PeopleKnowsMenMadeStillsDifferentRunningFilmYoungMotherClassKnow HowBrotherGayBuiltMy BrotherBeastGasWorking ClassExoticCleanersGay MenCab Author:Duncan Roy
“I landed on Gay Pride and I couldn't believe my eyes! Not only were gay people real - I had only heard rumours - but they had parades. There were men covered in glitter bound together with furry handcuffs. I felt like I was in outer space, I honestly thought I had arrived at the happiest place on earth.” PeopleMenBelieveRealEyeEarthTogetherFeltSpaceHeardPrideGayBoundsHonestlyCoveredParadesGlitterGay PeopleOuter SpaceGay PrideRumoursFurryHandcuffs Author:Pamela Anderson
“As a comedian I don't think they look at me as a sexual person but I can see where with actors it would be a little difficult for them because its part of their mystique, it gives them an easier time to change characters and people aren't going oh we have a gay actor, their gay so I don't know if I'm gunna buy this guy with this girl, its weird, I don't think it's fair; it's only done with us, it seems, like they just accept everyone as straight and go along with it and then its oh their gay and make a big deal out of it.” PeopleIfsThinkingKnowsGivingLooksLittlesPersonsI CanDoneCharacterBigsSeemsWould BeGuyGirlActorsDifficultDealsAcceptingEasierGayFairsComedianLook At MeThis GuyBig DealThis GirlMystiqueEasier Times Author:Wanda Sykes
“My father tried to get me to be around gay people a lot when I was young. He owned a gay bookstore and it had a lot of gay literature and art books and he wanted me to be taken care of by the young gays and lesbians who worked for him.” PeopleArtBookCareWantedYoungFatherLiteratureTakenGayBookstoresGay PeopleLiterature And Art Author:Margaret Cho
“I'm delighted that gay people want to get married and I say why not! It's nobody's business and I would happily give my blessing.” PeopleWantGivingGayBlessingMarriedWhy NotDelightedGay PeopleMy Blessing Author:Iris Apfel
“Imagine that you're a gay man and you're spending all your time with people who believe you are possessed by the devil.” PeopleMenBelieveImagineGayDevilSpendingPossessedImagine ThatGay Men Author:Roger Ross Williams
“White people don't have that problem, they get to go through life never having to fit into a box, and it's really more so true for white men because even just being a woman, you sort of have to walk around other people's assumptions of you and it's so exhausting and there's a sense, especially among young people of wanting to just live your life, not having to wear the weight of that pressure - pressure that people of color feel, that gay people of color feel, that women of color feel.” PeopleMenFeelsProblemYoungWhiteWalksColorFitGayWeightPressureBoxesAssumptionJust BeingLive Your LifeWhite ManBeing A WomanExhaustingGay PeopleJust LiveJust Live Your Life Author:Justin Simien
“Any gay person understands at some point that he or she has to disappear, to become invisible. That's very difficult. You somehow have to kill yourself. This is asked of people who haven't got the tools to understand that it's all a social construction, and that they shouldn't inferiorize themselves. This is asked of little kids. But I still live in the same outcome.” PeopleLittlesPersonsStillsKidsSocialDifficultHavensGayToolsDisappearInvisibleOutcomesConstructionLittle KidKilling YourselfSocial Construction Author:Abdellah Taia
“My family spent many years sleeping side by side in the same room. It's important for me to not separate myself from them or to say that I've suffered more than they have because I'm gay. We all suffered from the same political rejection, and from poverty. When you're starving with eleven other people in the same room, you become connected to them forever. We were all hungry at the same time.” PeopleYearsImportantPoliticalSidesSleepRoomsPovertyForeverGayMy FamilyConnectedHungryRejectionStarvingEleven Author:Abdellah Taia
“'Brokeback Mountain' is a sad love story about two people who can't be together, and the reason that they can't be together is because being gay is a stigmatized thing. It would be interesting to have the same movie in which the two guys weren't in the closet and there was no shame about them being gay and they couldn't be together for other reasons. I still feel like we're a long way from that happening.” PeopleWayFeelsLongStillsTwoReasonStoriesWould BeTogetherGuyInterestingGayMountainHappeningsShameLove StoryClosetsLong WayBeing GaySad LoveTwo GuysBrokeback Mountain Author:Wesley Morris
“People don't become gay, bisexual, pansexual, transexual. People just fall in love with another person.” PeoplePersonsFallGayFalling In LoveBisexual Author:Calum Hood
“I think in three or four years, there are going to be a whole lot more people who don’t think it’s necessary to figure out if you’re gay or straight. It’s like, just do your thing.” PeopleIfsThinkingYearsWholeThreeFourFiguresGayFour Years Author:Kristen Stewart
“Of course, the most troubling question is why do these people assume we're gay?” PeopleCoursesGayAssuming Author:Dean Winchester
“We’re not going to allow gay people to adopt children, that’s against nature, it’s against nature’s God.” PeopleChildrenGayGay People Author:William Anthony Donohue
“It's important to stress what I didn't find. I did not prove that homosexuality is genetic, or find a genetic cause for being gay. I didn't show that gay men are born that way, the most common mistake people make in interpreting my work. Nor did I locate a gay center in the brain.” PeopleMenWayImportantShowsCausesBornCommonMistakeBrainGayProveStressHomosexualityGay MenBeing GayInterpreting Author:Simon LeVay
“People have to stop saying that just because someone is an anti-gay activist they might be gay. They're DEFINITELY GAY!!” PeopleMightGayActivistAnti Gay Author:Bill Maher
“Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right. Some people are offended by mixed marriage, gay people, atheism. So what? F*** 'em.” PeopleMeanAtheismGayEmsOffendedGay People Author:Ricky Gervais
“I was raised by drag queens, practically ... my mother died when I was four-years-old, so I was effectively raised by a bunch of different people. A lot of those people were friends of my sister, Kathleen, who had all these gay friends. She would baby-sit me everyday, and she would take me over to her friend's houses with all kinds of things going on: tucking, and eyebrow drawing, waxing, all sorts of things. I was literally raised by gay men.” PeopleMenYearsKindDifferentMotherHouseFourBabyGayDiedRaisedEverydayDrawingBunchAll KindsQueensTake MeMy SisterFour YearsDragDifferent PeoplesEyebrowsGay MenMother DiedDrag QueenGay FriendWaxing Author:Ellen Pompeo
“I know, people were like, "It's all right that she's gay, but she doesn't have to look so gay." Trust me - I'm never cutting my hair again!” PeopleKnowsLooksCuttingHairGayTrust Me Author:Rosie O'Donnell
“What do they do in these [private] clubs, anyway? Sit around saying things like 'Thank God I'm here. No Jews! What fun! This is living, huh? Look! No Jews! I don't know when I've had a better time. And no women! Just men! And no blacks! Just whites! White men! White men who are not Jewish! It doesn't get any better than this.' To some people, apparently, this is a perfect description of injustice. To me, this is a perfect description of a gay bar in Iceland.” PeopleKnowsMenLooksFunWhitePerfectGayInjusticeJewClubsBarsDescriptionThank GodWhite ManIceland Author:Fran Lebowitz
“I had to fight to be me and get respect, and to carry that stigma, for me, is pride. Carrying the tag of lesbian. I'm not bragging, I'm not preaching, but I don't deny it . I had to face society, the Church, which says damn gay people ... it's absurd. How do you judge someone who has been born that way. I did not study to be a lesbian. Neither was it taught to me. I was born this way. Since I opened my eyes to the world. I've never slept with a man. Never. I'm pure, I don't have to be ashamed ... My Gods made me so.” PeopleMenWorldWayHas BeensMadeEyeFacesFightingBornChurchStudyTaughtJudgingPrideGayPureDenyAbsurdDamnAshamedPreachingStigmaGay PeopleBraggingTagBorn This Way Author:Chavela Vargas
“We've had a culture war roaring away, and the kinds of people who want to abuse and discriminate against gay people who are adults can't really lay their hands on us unless they want to be gay-bashers and go to jail. They abuse us from afar and in the abstract, they abuse us with checkbooks and ballots, but their kids go to school on Monday morning. And there's a gay kid. And they feel they have license to beat that gay kid up in a way that I don't think they did when I was in school. I think it's gotten worse.” PeopleThinkingWayWantFeelsKindWarHandsKidsSchoolCultureMorningGayBeatsAdultsAbuseLaysAbstractJailMondayLicenseBallotsGay PeopleAfarRoaringMonday MorningBashers Author:Dan Savage
“You could fly under the radar a little bit. You could be a weird kid without defaulting to gay, without everyone assuming you must be gay - that was literally the last place many people went.” PeopleLittlesKidsLastsBitsGayLittle BitAssumingRadarLast Place Author:Dan Savage
“Pride became this dogma which meant you couldn't criticize anything gay - if you were the least bit critical of gay culture or people or any gay person doing any gay thing, that was an insufficient display of pride. You were suffering from internalized homophobia. As opposed to external homophobia.” PeopleIfsPersonsSufferingCultureBitsPrideGayCriticalCriticizeDisplayDogmaHomophobiaInsufficientGay Culture Author:Dan Savage
“I got the bad press and the blogging and the email threats because people really didn't understand. They thought I was anti-gay. That's not true at all. My spiritual mom has a gay son. Even he was telling his friends "No, that's not true. She's so accepting of me." That doesn't mean I accept his lifestyle. It means I accept him as a human person and as a creation of God and a person of value.” PeopleHumansMeanPersonsSpiritualValuesAcceptingCreationSonMomGayPressesThreatLifestyleEmailBloggingAnti GayBad PressGay Son Author:Patricia Mauceri
“Having a big gay following, I get hate mail and threats. Some people are blind or ignorant, and you can't be that prejudiced and hateful and go through this world and still be happy.” PeopleWorldStillsBigsHateThis WorldGayBlindThreatFollowingIgnorantMailHatefulHate Mail Author:Dolly Parton
“Being in the Boy Scouts, you don't think about whether people are gay or straight. You're busy putting up tents and learning to cut sausages.” PeopleThinkingBoysCuttingGayBusyTentsSausageBoy Scout Author:Boy George
“15 or 20 years ago it would not have been possible for me to come out. Back then, people still had such narrow views, but today many of them are more liberal. Being gay is no longer a taboo in many parts of society. That has affected sports, even boxing.” PeopleYearsHas BeensStillsTodaySportsViewsGayYears AgoBoxingAffectedTabooBeing Gay Author:Orlando Cruz
“I had to smile when stories emerged questioning whether I was gay. Obviously I knew I wasn't but people were curiously desperate to suggest I was ... when you know a gay guy has a crush on you, it's the most flattering thing.” PeopleKnowsStoriesGuyGayCrushDesperateQuestioningFlatteringGay GuyCrush On You Author:Daniel Radcliffe
“I can assure you that gay people getting married will have zero effect on your life. They won't come into your house and steal your children. They won't magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster. They won't even overthrow the government in an orgy of hedonistic debauchery because all of a sudden they have the same legal rights as the other 90 percent of our population ... you know what having these rights will make gays? Full-fledged American citizens just like everyone else, with the freedom to pursue happiness and all that entails.” PeopleKnowsChildrenI CanGovernmentTurnsHouseRightsEffectsCitizensGayMarriedPercentOur ChildrenPopulationStealingPursueYour ChildrenZeroGay PeopleGetting MarriedAmerican CitizensLustfulDebaucheryHedonisticLegal Rights Author:Chris Kluwe
“Your life could be taken from you at any moment. Between AIDS and the violence against gay people that was so prevalent back then, you really didn't feel like you were living in the United States of America, in a first world country. You had a sense that life was a precious commodity you had to fight to keep.” PeopleWorldFeelsFirstsCountryStatesMomentsAmericaFightingUnitedUnited StatesTakenViolenceLike YouGayAidsUnited States Of AmericaCommodityGay People Author:Dale Peck
“Because gay people were so much more visible, violence against gays was more common and reported on. But they were definitely related to each other. In the wake of AIDS, gay people felt like they had to organize, become much more active and visible. AIDS fostered a gay rights movement that made gay people more powerful and more vulnerable at the same time.” PeopleMadeFeltPowerfulCommonRightsViolenceMovementGayActiveAidsVulnerableRelatedVisibleOrganizeGay RightsGay People Author:Dale Peck
“The core of America is not racist. It is not hostile to women. It is increasingly offended by gay bashing. Yet it abhors government waste. It believes strongly in fiscal responsibility such as balanced budgets. It is pro-economic growth. It is concerned about the environment. It is intolerant of people on welfare who disdain the notion of work. But it wants poor kids to have school lunches and it wants to spend money to have good schools. In sum, most Americans are sensible, good-hearted, and prudent. The issue, then, is whether there is a political party that can welcome them home.” PeopleWantBelieveHomeGovernmentKidsSchoolAmericaPoliticalGrowthPoorPartyResponsibilityIssuesEnvironmentEconomicGayWasteConcernedNotionCoreWelcomeBudgetsWelfareRacistLunchSensibleBalancedHostilePolitical PartiesOffendedHeartedEconomic GrowthPrudentDisdainGood SchoolGood HeartedBalanced BudgetFiscal ResponsibilitySchool LunchGovernment Waste Author:Paul Tsongas
“Why shouldn't gay people be able to live as open and freely as everybody else? What it comes down to, ultimately, is love. How can anything bad come out of love? The bad stuff comes out of mistrust, misunderstanding and, God knows, from hate and from ignorance.” PeopleKnowsAbleHateStuffIgnoranceGayMisunderstandingGod KnowsGay PeopleMistrustBad Stuff Author:Elizabeth Taylor
“Gay people getting married? Next, they'll be allowed to vote and pay taxes.” PeopleNextPayGayTaxesMarriedVoteGay PeopleGetting Married Author:Kenneth Cole
“In the books I read the sinners are always more interesting than the saints, and in real life good people are dismally dull. I've no desire to be wicked, but I do want to be happy. A short life and a gay one for me and I'm willing to pay for my pleasure if it is necessary.” PeopleIfsWantBookRealDesirePleasureInterestingPayWillingGaySaintReal LifeDullWickedSinnerGood LifeGood PeopleShort LifeWant To Be HappyOne For Me Author:Louisa May Alcott
“And now gay people want to get married... Haven't they suffered enough?” PeopleWantEnoughHavensGayMarriedGay People Author:George Carlin
“Reverend Ted Haggard's followers still think he's not gay. I'm not kidding. In their world, there are no gay people. There are just straight people who are sinning. They don't want to do it, but the Devil makes them! He targets people like Reverend Ted. That's how it happened. The Devil got hold of Reverend Ted, and Ted said, 'Get thee behind me, Satan! And put it in, gently'.” PeopleThinkingWorldWantSaidStillsBehindsHappenedGayDevilTheeSatanTargetFollowersGay PeopleSinningReverendsHaggard Author:Bill Maher
“I think these last 10 years have seen just a huge shift in the psyche of this country as regards gay people. I think AIDS had a lot to do with it. So many families who really believed they'd 'never met one' were suddenly confronted with their sons becoming ill, and friends of sons. I think that brought a lot of it into the open.” PeopleThinkingYearsCountryLastsSonHugeBecomingMetsGayRegardIllAidsGay People Author:Janis Ian
“Why can't I be friends with somebody who's gay? Why not? You can miss out on a lot by being so small-minded and stereotypical about people. It's stupid.” PeopleMissingStupidGayWhy Not Author:ASAP Rocky
“I always say about that movie [ Brokeback mountain], which I think maybe over time is more understood, is that this is about two people desperately looking for love. To be loved. And who were probably capable of it. And they just found it with someone of the same sex.that does not dismiss the fact that it is about, really, primarily, the first kind of very profound gay love story. Hopefully it can create an equality of an idea: that is, it's possible that you can find love anywhere.” PeopleThinkingFirstsKindDoeTwoIdeasFactsStoriesFoundSexGayMountainCapableUnderstoodProfoundLove StoryHopefullyFinding LoveLooking For LoveBrokeback MountainGay Love Author:Jake Gyllenhaal
“Gay and lesbian people are equal. They deserve equal protection of the laws, and they deserve it now.” PeopleLawGayEqualDeserveProtectionEqual Protection Author:Donald Verrilli Jr.
“Definitely 99% of the hate I get is from other gay people.” PeopleHateGayGay People Author:Steve Grand
“People don't like what I represent, and they think I'm trying to represent the whole gay community just because I'm a gay person and I make music. By default I'm supposed to represent a whole community? I think that's ridiculous.” PeopleThinkingTryingPersonsWholeCommunityGayRidiculousDefaultGay Community Author:Steve Grand
“We [me and Jennifer Salke] talked about the characters and different kinds of families and where are we today. We certainly pitched the gay couple, but we also talked about what it was like to be a single mother with a young daughter, what is it like to be a woman in your 50's who is completely starting over and dating again and having to go online to date again. We talked about the whole spectrum of the characters, but I don't think it ever came up about whether people are ready for it or not.” PeopleThinkingKindDifferentWholeCharacterTodayYoungMotherReadyCoupleGayDaughterDatingStartingOnlineDifferent KindsSpectrumStarting OverJenniferSingle MotherGay CouplesYoung Daughter Author:Ryan T. Murphy