It takes no money to respect the individual.
Barbara Alper / Getty Images Harvey Milk made history as the first openly gay man to be elected for public office in California. Johnson, a celebrated advocate for gay rights, took part in the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn. Find a message that speaks to you, then text it to loved ones or post it on social media to keep the trail blazing! Marsha P. From This Bridge Called My Back, Fourth Edition: Writings by Radical Women of Color, 1981 12.Work your way down this list to find quotes from those who paved the way in past decades, along with other trailblazers who continue to uplift and inspire through their art, smarts and other talents. "Our strategy is how we cope-how we measure and weigh what is to be said and when, what is to be done and how, and to whom, daily deciding/risking who it is we can call an ally, call a friend (whatever that person's skin, sex, or sexuality). Cherrie Moraga // Poet, Essayist, and Chicana Activist From an interview in Out of the Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation, 1972 11. If a transvestite doesn't say I'm gay and I'm proud and I'm a transvestite, then nobody else is going to hop up there and say I'm gay and I'm proud and I'm a transvestite for them." When they don't see any action they think, 'Well, gays are all forgotten now, they're worn out, they're tired.'. "I'd like to see the gay revolution get started, but there hasn't been any demonstration or anything recently. Johnson // Transgender Activist and Stonewall Riots Participant From In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens: Womanist Prose, 1983 10. "Please remember, especially in these times of group-think and the right-on chorus, that no person is your friend (or kin) who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow and be perceived as fully blossomed as you were intended." Alice Walker // Novelist, Essayist, and ActivistĪlice Walker attends the "The Color Purple" Broadway Opening Night at The Bernard B. From Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches, 1984 9. There are only old and forgotten ones, new combinations, extrapolations and recognitions from within ourselves-along with the renewed courage to try them out." But there are no new ideas waiting in the wings to save us as women, as human. "Sometimes we drug ourselves with dreams of new ideas. Audre Lorde // Poet, Essayist, and Civil Rights Activist From a blog post in response to the death by suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer, a bisexual teen and YouTuber, 2011 8. Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender citizen of this country.” "In light of Jamey's death, it became clear to me in an instant that living a gay life without publicly acknowledging it is simply not enough to make any significant contribution to the immense work that lies ahead on the road to complete equality. Zachary Quinto speaks onstage during the 2017 GLSEN Respect Awards. Jason Collins // First Openly Gay Player in the NBA and in a Major American Team Sport From Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come, 1992 5. We are the class that does the work of the world, and can revolutionize it. Genuine bonds of solidarity can be forged between people who respect each other's differences and are willing to fight their enemy together. We are pitted against each other in order to keep us from seeing each other as allies.
"Like racism and all forms of prejudice, bigotry against transgender people is a deadly carcinogen. Leslie Feinberg // Transgender Activist and Author From an interview with Michelangelo Signorile about coming out as bisexual in his memoir Fire Shut Up In My Bones, 2014 4. And maybe that’s the beauty of labels: that they force you to be with other people and see the difference." And yes, it brings together a bunch of people who are maybe shades different from one another. What are you talking about?' All identity labels are umbrella terms to some degree, but this term bisexual is not only serviceable but it is sufficient. And I had to say, 'Charles, snap out of that. I was so special-I was so different from everybody else I was meeting. I wanted something that was so singular, a label that was so singular for me. "Part of what my discomfort was, in the beginning, is that I wanted something that didn't exist. Blow attends the Brooklyn Artists Ball 2017.