It's Not Over Quotes

“Yoshino distinguishes covering from “conversion” (trying to become straight) and “passing” (staying in the closet), and points out that even after gay people come out, society exerts a “covering demand” on its minority members. I would argue that, by pleading for more magnanimous treatment of our opponents, gay thought leaders were unconsciously applying the covering demand to the LGBT equality movement as a whole.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“This recalibration of the “victim–oppressor dynamic” is exactly what Christian conservatives, with the aid of right-wing bloggers, put into motion after Brendan Eich resigned as CEO of Mozilla. They cast him as a victim of ruthless, organized gay activist groups that were taking away his “religious liberties”—a claim that could not be further from the truth. Too many gay opinion makers fell right into the trap, accepting this reframing, becoming fearful, and running away, fretting about the “optics” rather than challenging the accusation for what it was: a vicious lie and a deception, part of a plot to recast enemies of LGBT equality as victims while they trample hard-won rights. These LGBT thought leaders spoke for all of us who have been overcome with victory blindness and have impulsively reverted to covering our anger and our conviction. And we can’t let that happen again.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“When it comes to LGBT civil rights, as with other marginalized groups, our fundamental personhood is not an issue that has two sides.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“let’s make them work for us. Let’s keep them busy in committees defending our full civil rights in return for our full support and let them use it as a wedge issue against the GOP. The last thing leading Republicans want to do, after all, is have an open conversation about LGBT equality.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“Our enemies weren’t about to give us even an inch.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“It seemed like the military was stalling, and the president wasn’t challenging this tactic out of fear of upsetting conservatives. (Not until Obama’s second term would the administration painfully come to realize the futility of pandering to people who would never meet them halfway.)”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“the fact remains that it is the fight itself, standing up against the hate because we dare to demand equality, that changes the culture and brings people to the cause.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“another important aspect of the marriage-equality movement that gives us some guidance moving forward is that it was driven not by the Beltway but by average Americans who wanted equality and who worked with visionary legal advocates.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“it wasn’t until recently that we saw marriage as a winning issue rather than a losing one.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“When we don’t ask for much, we also send a message that we’re not really serious.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“Well into 2014, HRC was still pushing that narrow employment bill the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, with its dangerous, broad religious exemption that would allow continued discrimination by the very institutions that do most of the discriminating.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“The logic of incrementalism is that by asking for a little bit at a time and winning a little bit at a time, you can eventually achieve the full complement of your goals.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“We should not be comparing Hillary Clinton to our mothers, and we certainly don’t owe her filial obedience. She is a politician who now must make major promises if she wants our support in any political race.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“a full civil rights bill, something much bigger than ENDA, that encompasses employment, housing, public accommodations, education, and all banking and lending, without a religious exemption any broader than the one in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We must not settle for anything less.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“The victory narrative seduces us, however, to pull back just when we’re beginning to win, in fear of taking further risks. The covering demand draws too many of us in, as our enemies put us on the defensive when we must remain vigilant and constantly on the offensive in attaining civil rights. That means being vocal, organizing at the grass roots, and collectively demanding action.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“they would quickly discover the simple truth that there are no reputable psychiatrists, psychologists, sex therapists, or other mental-health professionals or medical authorities who believe homosexuality and transgenderism are unnatural or harmful to individuals or destructive to institutions. The American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and American Psychiatric Association support gay and trans people. But rather than report the story in an accurate way that won’t cause any fireworks, the networks put on a circus by bringing in a nonexpert who promotes bigotry.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“It’s hard to guess why that range is not called upon.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“using the same logic it uses to determine racist and other extremist groups: the FRC promotes defamation and promulgates known falsehoods.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“victim’s avoidance of ‘fighting back’ and the bully’s interpretation of this as a weakness.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“not standing there and taking it, being subservient to and trying to gain the acceptance of the bully. It means fighting back.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“Kids may be taught misinformation or bigotry at their churches or in their homes, but at school, perhaps before those ideas can solidify, something else is challenging them with facts.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“in schools where the majority of youth report having learned about LGBT people in the curriculum, only 11% of students report being bullied, which was half the number of students who reported being bullied in schools that do not teach this history.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“Getting those rights is essential. But, as Kenji Yoshino notes in his discussing of covering, winning rights is only one part of the battle. To keep them, we have to change the culture, and that means resisting the demand that we cover and conform.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“Without defamation, there is no longer slander,”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“in 2012 New York’s highest court went much further, ruling that even falsely saying someone is gay is not “per se defamation.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“Then as now, the Christian Right turned anti-discrimination arguments on their heads: instead of African Americans being discriminated against by segregated Christian universities, the universities were being discriminated against by not being allowed to exclude them; instead of public prayers oppressing religious minorities, Christians are being oppressed by not being able to offer them.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“Instead, they borrowed a page from the same playbook they have used for decades. Now, when they want to talk about gay people, Republicans discuss a threat to “religious liberties” or “religious freedom.” And if these terms are the raw ingredients of dog whistling, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is the test kitchen where the recipes are developed.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“They’re using these sort of coded appeals to say to people two things: One, the biggest threat in your life is not concentrated wealth, it’s minorities; and two, government coddles minorities, and all these government assistance programs, it’s all about giveaways to minorities—oppose them—government is taking your taxes and giving it to undeserving minorities.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“Reagan and welfare queens, or Newt Gingrich saying Obama is a “food stamp president.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality

“eight other states already have what are known as “no promo homo” laws, which, like the original “don’t say gay” bill, restrict to varying degrees what educators can say about homosexuality.”
― Michelangelo Signorile, It's Not Over: Getting Beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, & Winning True Equality