“It is undeniable that the experience of African Americans differs in many important ways from that of gay men and lesbians; among other things, the legacy of slavery and segregation is profound. But differences in historical experiences should not preclude the application of constitutional provisions to gay men and lesbians who are denied the fight to marry the person of their choice.”
-- NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., in commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Loving v. Virginia in the June 12, 1967 historic Supreme Court decision that advanced racial and marriage equality in the U.S.


“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


It is not who you attend school with, but who controls the school you attend.

-- Nikki Giovanni


“Never bend your head. Always hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”

-- Helen Keller


"To discriminate against our sisters and brothers who are lesbian or gay on grounds of their sexual orientation for me is as totally unacceptable and unjust as Apartheid ever was."
-- Archbishop Desmond Tutu


"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in Albany, Ga. and St. Augustine, Fla., and many other campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions."
-- human rights advocate, Dr. Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927 - Jan. 30, 2006)


“I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream to make room at the table of brotherhood and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.”
-- human rights advocate, Dr. Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927 - Jan. 30, 2006)


"We don’t believe they have the right to marry. In fact, we don’t think they have the right to exist."

-- Douglas Sadler, member of the Ku Klux Klan, in protesting attempts to legalize same-sex marriage in Iowa


"The most successful marriages, gay or straight, even if they begin in romantic love, often become friendships. It's the ones that become the friendships that last.”
-- Andrew Sullivan


"When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him."
-- openly gay, Quaker, African-American civil rights leader, Bayard Rustin


"What have you done today to make yourself Proud?"

-- Proud by Heather Small


"Resisting being called 'defective' and 'broken' is not intolerant; it is standing up for one's rights as a citizen and one's value as a human being. Asking to not be hit is not intolerant; asking not to be called 'fag' is not intolerant, asking for the same rights that hetero folks enjoy is not intolerant. I will never accept that being 'tolerant' means allowing myself to be regarded as inferior. I don't care if bigots get hurt feelings because I fend off the hand that hits me."
-- "gobear," posted on the Internet


"Never do anything you are ashamed of. If you're ashamed that means somewhere inside you think it's wrong; and if you think it's wrong, you shouldn't be doing it."
-- Harvey Fierstein


“I burned out on AIDS and did no AIDS work for a couple of years. I was so angry that people were still getting this disease that nobody can give you - you have to go out and get it!”
-- Harvey Fierstein


"I pay your taxes. I take care of your loved ones when they are sick. I am the best I can be. I am tired of being debated."
-- Kevin Hook, a registered nurse in Indianapolis, responding to a recent City Council vote that killed a bill that would have extended equal rights to gay people


"Freedom means freedom for everyone. ... People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to."

-- Dick Cheney


“First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”

-- Mahatma Gandhi


"Standing up for yourself can have consequences, but not standing up for yourself can, too."

-- Chris Crain, executive editor of the Washington Blade, in a blog entry about being attacked recently in Amsterdam


“There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout: This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel, love the way I love! I am a whole complex package. Take me... or leave me. Accept me - or walk away! Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don't fit your idea of who I should be and don't try to change me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision. When you are strong enough to love yourself 100%, good and bad - you will be amazed at the opportunities that life presents you.”
-- Copyright © 2000 Stacey Charter


“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.”
-- Cesar Chavez



“Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves; vanity, to what we would have others think of us.”
-- Jane Austen


“Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.”

--Football Coach, Paul Bryant


“You can't give people pride, but you can provide the kind of understanding that makes people look to their inner strengths and find their own sense of pride.”
-- American Nun, Charleszetta Waddles



"It shouldn't be a big deal to anybody. I know I've played with gay players and against gay players and it just shouldn't surprise anybody or be any issue."
-- Charles Barkley, retired NBA player, on ex-player John Amaechi's coming out, as quoted in the Washington Post