“Why do I deserve more rights as a heterosexual man than my mothers? I think I have turned out terrific from my family-if being a son who values fairness and open-mindedness is somehow bad for society, then I am not sure this is a society I want to be a part of.”
-- Camilo Ortiz, the adoptive son of two lesbian moms, at a rally about Proposition 8, which changed the California Constitution to forever prohibit same-sex couples’ marrying

''We don't think that capitalist countries have a monopoly on freedom, democracy and human rights. People in socialist countries should also enjoy freedom, democracy and human rights.”
-- Prime Minister Li Peng of China

“Our rights as Americans do not depend on the approval of others. Our rights depend on us being Americans." -- U.S. Congressman, African-American man and civil rights veteran, John Lewis

“Gays and lesbians are oppressed. Period. And it's still legal throughout the country. That's the crime. The crime is not that gays want the right to love without prejudice. Blacks and gays may not be the same, but neither are blacks and Hispanics or blacks and women. What does that prove? At the end of the day, it shouldn't matter which group was first oppressed or whether they are identically oppressed. What matters is that no group of people should be oppressed.”
-- author/journalist Keith Boykin, who is African-American and gay

'"Times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom."
-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy

"[My openly gay Sunday school teacher] made it very clear that you have a special gift, and as long as you lead your life with dignity, and are a human being of your word, and you have good character, the world cannot deny you."
-- Kenneth Reeves, on his own wonderful coming out experience as a teen. Reeves, a City Council Member and former Mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1992-1995, was the first openly gay African-American man to head a major U.S. city. More at: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/brotheroutsider/reeves.html

"Gay people are the sweetest, kindest, most artistic, warmest and most thoughtful people in the world. And since the beginning of time all they've ever been is kicked ..."
-- Openly gay singer, Little Richard

“Equality is more than tolerance, compassion, understanding, acceptance, benevolence, for these still come from a place of implied superiority: favors granted to those less fortunate. These attitudes suggest that there is still something wrong, something not quite right that must be overlooked or seen beyond."
-- Openly lesbian author, Suzanne Pharr

"The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life."
-- Jane Addams, social worker & feminist … she lived long before anyone defined themselves as "lesbian," but she "shared her life for 40 years" with Mary Rozet Smith

"Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt, ambassador, first lady, human rights activist … who had two loves in her life, her husband, Franklin, and her partner, Lorena

"There are many persons ready to do what is right because in their hearts they know it is right. But they hesitate, waiting for the other fellow to make the make the first move -- and he, in turn, waits for you."
-- Marian Anderson, opera star who was African-American who, in 1939, when she was prohibited from singing a concert at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., sang instead, with the support of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, at the Lincoln Memorial.

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
-- Bishop Desmond Tutu

“We can love what we are, without hating what –- and who -- we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.”
-- Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General and recipient of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize

"I want American history taught. Unless I'm in that book, you're not in it either. History is not a procession of illustrious people. It's about what happens to a people. Millions of anonymous people is what history is about."
-- James Baldwin, openly gay, African-American novelist, college professor and civil rights activist who lived his latter years in France

"Prejudice is a definitely a learned behavior. You aren't born hating a black person or an obese person or a gay person … Growing into myself, I realized that different is good, and different sets you apart."
-- Marissa Whitley, Miss Teen USA 2002, who is biracial

“A mature person is one who is does not think only in absolutes, who is able to be objective even when deeply stirred emotionally, who has learned that there is both good and bad in all people and all things, and who walks humbly and deals charitably with the circumstances of life, knowing that in this world no one is all-knowing and therefore all of us need both love and charity.”
-- Eleanor Roosevelt, ambassador, first lady, human rights activist … who had two loves in her life, her husband, Franklin, and her partner, Lorena