"This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay wizard."
— J.K. Rowling

"The only queer people are those who don't love anybody."
— Rita Mae Brown

"I was like, Am I gay? Am I straight? And I realized...I'm just slutty. Where's my parade?"
— Margaret Cho

"There are 6 admonishments in the Bible concerning homosexual activity and our enemies are always throwing them up to us usually in a vicious way and very much out of context. What they don't want us to remember is that there are 362 admonishments in the Bible concerning heterosexual activity. I don't mean to imply by this that God doesn't love straight people, only that they seem to require a great deal more supervision."
— Lynn Lavner

"Democracy! Bah! When I hear that I reach for my feather boa!"
— Allen Ginsberg

"Self pity becomes your oxygen. But you learned to breathe it without a gasp. So, nobody even notices you're hurting."
— Paul Monette

"Yeah, the whole family knows. It's no big deal. One night at dinner I said, 'Mom, you know the forbidden love that Spock has for Kirk? Well, me too.' It was easier for her to understand that way."
— Holly Black (Tithe)

"I know that you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. And you...And you...And you...Gotta give em hope."
— Harvey Milk

"Jerry Falwell said that the reason that September 11th happened, the reason that God allowed it to happen, was because of certain people in our country. People like, and I'm quoting, 'the pagans,' which is a motorcycle group. Feminists; he brought up feminists. [...] And I couldn't believe it, he said that God had actually talked to him and said, these were the people. That was the reason. It was those people, and that was the reason God allowed this to happen. And I thought, 'That's odd.' Because God had called me twelve hours before, and He said the reason He was upset was because of people like Jerry Falwell."
— Lewis Black

"'You could move.' ---"Dear Abby" responds to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the quality of the neighborhood. "
— Abigail Van Buren

"Before you echo 'Amen' in your home or place of worship, think and remember...a child is listening." "
— Mary Griffith

"Lots of people hate gay people.
You can tell who they are because they start sentences with, "It's not like I hate gay people.""
— Ali Liebegott

"If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours."
— Dustin Lance Black

"I've had more difficulty accepting myself as bisexual than I ever did accepting that I was a lesbian. It felt traitorous. A few years ago, I admitted to myself that I was still interested in men in more than a "Brad Pitt is slick hot sexy" kind of way. But I worried whatmy friends, exes, and the Community would think. I never even broached the subject with my parents. Because what bothered me the most was that people would think that being a lesbian had been a phase for me, when that was so very not the case. What I feared was that I would no longer be part of a community, that I might be seen with my boyfriend and not be recognized as something not the same. "
— R. Gay (First Person Queer: Who We Are)

"All men are created equal. Now matter how hard they try, they can never erase those words. That is what America is about."
— Harvey Milk

"The single best thing about coming out of the closet is that nobody can insult you by telling you what you've just told them. "
— Rachel Maddow

"It's not my victory, it's yours and yours and yours. If a gay can win, it means there is hope that the system can work for all minorities if we fight. We've given them hope."
— Harvey Milk

". . . Nature pulls one way and human nature another."
— E.M. Forster (Howards End)

"I do not mean to say that I viewed those desires of mine that deviated from accepted standards as normal and orthodox; nor do I mean that I labored under the mistaken impression that my friends possessed the same desires. Surprisingly enough, I was so engrossed in tales of romance that I devoted all my elegant dreams to thoughts of love between man and maid, and to marriage, exactly as though I were a young girl who knew nothing of the world. I tossed my love for Omi onto the rubbish heap of neglected riddles, never once searching deeply for its meaning. Now when I write the word love, when I write affection, my meaning is totally different from my understanding of the words at that time. I never even dreamed that such desires as I had felt toward Omi might have a significant connection with the realities of my "life.""
— Yukio Mishima (Confessions of a Mask)

"All men are created equal. No matter how hard you try, you can never erase those words."
— Harvey Milk

"In our opposed forms of loneliness and self-recognition and recognition of the other, we touched each other often as we spoke; and on shore in explorations of the past, we strolled with our arms linked..."
— Harold Brodkey (Profane Friendship)

"Gay diversity is like the Village People. You can all wear different stupid outfits as long as you sing the same stupid song."
— Jack Malebranch

"Understand that sexuality is as wide as the sea. Understand that your morality is not law. Understand that we are you. Understand that if we decide to have sex whether safe, safer, or unsafe, it is our decision and you have no rights in our lovemaking."
— Derek Jarman

"Does the mainstream media have a liberal bias? On a couple of things, maybe. Compared to the American public at large, probably a slightly higher percentage of journalists, because of thier enhanced power of discernment, realize they know a gay person or two, and are, therefore, less frightened of them. "
— Al Franken

""Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight." "
— Harvey Milk

"I started to be really proud of the fact I was gay even though I wasn't"
— Kurt Cobain

"Clary- "How to Come Out to Your Parents," she read out loud. "LUKE. Don't be ridiculous. Simon's not gay, he's a vampire.""
— Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes)

""Eventually, I started to develop feelings for Max. Yeah, it seems crazy, but it’s true. I’m gay.” he said and looked at her."
-Zane from Forever
"
— Rayana

"Something went klunk. Like a nickel dropping in a soda machine. One of those small insights that explains everything. This was puberty for these boys. Adolescence. The first date, the first kiss, the first chance to hold hands with someone special. Delayed, postponed, a decade's worth of longing--while everybody around you celebrates life, you pretend, suppress, inhibit, deprive yourself of you own joy--but finally ultimately, eventually, you find a place where you can have a taste of everything denied."
— David Gerrold

"In the past, when gays were very flamboyant as drag queens or as leather queens or whatever, that just amused people. And most of the people that come and watch the gay Halloween parade, where all those excesses are on display, those are straight families, and they think it's funny. But what people don't think is so funny is when two middle-aged lawyers who are married to each other move in next door to you and your wife and they have adopted a Korean girl and they want to send her to school with your children and they want to socialize with you and share a drink over the backyard fence. That creeps people out, especially Christians. So, I don't think gay marriage is a conservative issue. I think it's a radical issue."
— Edmund White

"I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman."
— Arnold Schwarzenegger

""Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight.""
— Harvey Milk

"We're two men who happen to be room-mates, wrestle a lot and share a bed. It's badass."
— Robert Downey Jr

"If you don't like rhinestones, you can't be my friend."
— Johnathan Kayne Gillaspie

"See, the institutions and specialist, experts, you see. Yes, yes,
experts, indeed. See, they would have us believe that there is an order
to art. An explanation. Humans are odd creatures in that way. Always
searching for a formula. Yes, a formula to create an expected norm for
unexplainable greatness. A cook book you might say. Yes, a recipe
book for life, love, and art. However, my dear, let me tell you. Yes,
there is no such thing. Every individual is unique in their own design,
as intended by God himself. We classify, yes, always must we classify,
for if not, then we would be lost, yes lost now wouldn't we?
Classification, order, expectations, but alas, we forget. For what is art,
if not the out word expression of an artist. It is the soul of the artisan
and if his expectations are met, than who are we to judge whether his
work be art or not?"
— Cristina Marrero (The River: The Unsung Love Story)

"[Reverend James] Dobson says that the [Spongebob Squarepants] video would be watched by millions of elementary school students and includes a reference to being 'tolerant of differences.' The nerve! Who does Spongebob think he is? Jesus Christ? Tolerance will not be, uh, tolerated. Oh, and tolerance is quite possibly closesly connected to gay-ance."
— Celia Rivenbark (Belle Weather: Mostly Sunny with a Chance of Scattered Hissy Fits and Conniptions)

"I am the Love that Dare not Speak its Name"
— Lord Alfred Douglas

"Well let's face it, who on earth besides antique dealers and gay couples actually still give dinner parties?"
— Nigel Slater

"What kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay"
— Pink

"Burst down those closet doors once and for all, and stand up and start to fight."
— Harvey Milk