Rufus Wainwright Quotes

I think one's sexuality can be the center of life, and coming out and discovering your sexuality is something that really can define your existence.

I grew up in a family where many of our close friends were gay couples. As well as that, every man goes through a period of thinking they're attracted to another guy.

I'm homosexual... How and why are idle questions. It's a little like wanting to know why my eyes are green.

In terms of sexual orientation I don't really feel I've changed. I don't feel there was a hidden part of my sexuality that I wasn't aware of. I'd been with men all my life, and I'd never fallen in love with a woman. But when I did, it didn't seem so strange.

What love life? I'm not gay, but I might as well be.

I was conveniently bisexual for a long time, and then I went, 'Come on, who am I kidding?' And I have to say, it was the single biggest step I took toward emotional well-being, to stop feeling like I had to hide who I am.

I, Binyavanga Wainaina, quite honestly swear I have known I am a homosexual since I was five.

Discovering I'm gay just sort of happened much later in life.

As far as I was concerned, either I was a homosexual or I wasn't, so making films would change nothing.

I never talked about homosexuality with my family. After I was 18, they know everything, but I never talk; it was like an information but in silence. I start to talk when I was 32, it was good for me - it was like a liberation. I'm talking about a love story. I'm not talking about sex because love is love.

As a child, recognizing my difference from other kids, I went to the local public library to try to better understand my reality. Back then, many library card catalogues didn't even list 'homosexuality' as a topic.

I'm not sure when I first knew that I was gay.

I'm proud of my sexuality.

I've heard other gay people say when they were growing up they felt 'foreign.' Growing up, I was able to label these feelings as: 'I'm a Protestant.' It wasn't until I left, I thought: 'Oh, those weren't Protestant feelings.'

When I said that I make out with dudes, there was a slight sense of sexual rebellion in that. And I probably even made it a bigger deal than it was.

I'd spent my twenties trying to be everything to everybody. I had my family, my straight friends, and I was starting to develop a gay circle of friends. I was seeing some men, seeing some women, and trying to sort it all out.

Some people have their sexuality really at the forefront of who they are, and I applaud those people.

I remember stepping off and thinking that it might not be a good idea to let anyone know that I'm a homosexual, which is hilarious because I'm probably the gayest man I know. I had these huge dreams and they came to fruition so quickly.

Honestly, I never needed a mask to go onstage. It was me who was there, and it was always what I felt, based on what I had learned at home, in my religion, and from society. I clung to that: 'This is me, it has to be me.' And if I had an encounter with someone of the same sex, I looked away.

Being able to live my life transparently does empower me to feel like I can be myself more. It's easier for me to flirt with girls now that girls know that I'm gay. It almost makes it a sexier encounter than if I was trying to pretend that I was straight.

I think for a long time I wasn't really out to myself growing up in Omaha, Neb., to a Catholic conservative family. It took me a while to come out to myself, and not long after that, I came out to them. I think that it really couldn't have been a better experience. They were all immediately supportive.

My depression at the end of Wham! was because I was beginning to realise I was gay, not bi.

I guess I had a suspicion of it my entire life without knowing exactly what it was - knowing that there was something different about me, which I attributed to being an artist. At 11 or 12 I started sort of clarifying for myself. It took a while.

Lots of women don't realize that they're gay until they're grown up.

I've been openly gay since I can remember.