Sonya Deville Quotes

I was well into adulthood before I was prepared to acknowledge the simple fact that I am gay. It took years of struggle and growth for me to recognize that it's just a fact of life, like having brown hair, and part of who I am.

I just, I was in such denial within myself for the longest time, just because of the place I grew up in. Like, it wasn't common. I didn't know anybody that was gay. I think I had one gay friend in high school and she never even, like, came out. It was just, like, we all just knew.

No one knew I was gay growing up but I was bullied. I was a cheerleader, fairly popular and considered straight.

I'm not gay.

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

No, I'm not gay.

I never felt like there was an unconscious part of me around that woke up or that came out of the closet; there wasn't a struggle, there wasn't an attempt to suppress.

I am camp. Lots of gay men can't cope with their campness. They are in denial about it.

I try to treat my orientation the same way I would if I was straight, which is to talk about it when it's relevant.

Before I came out, the thought of someone calling me gay, even when I knew very well that I was, was petrifying.

I do wish, when I was younger, that I knew that I was gay. It would have made things a lot clearer for me. Really. Looking back on it, it was so obvious, but it never really dawned on me. Socially, I felt like I didn't know how to be and who to be. If I had known back then, it would have given me more self-confidence.

Coming out as a gay man, it was very much about finding my own identity and dealing with labeling.

No, I've never thought that I was gay. And that's not something you think. It's something you know.

I've been bisexual for as long as I can remember. I remember being made fun of in junior high for that. It was something that was shameful, and it really shouldn't be.

There's nothing wrong with being gay, but I'm not.

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 didn't choose the fact that I was gay, but I did choose whether to live my life as a gay woman-that was the terrifying thing for me. Especially being a gay actress.

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

People who were close to me - family and friends - they knew about my sexuality.

If people think I am gay, yeah, hey that doesn't bother me. Not at all. What would people think? To me I am such a heterosexual guy. It doesn't even, I don't even think about it.

I'm a lesbian. Yup. Hundred percent. Hundred percent. I remember being in college, and I had fallen in love with this woman, and I remember sitting in my dorm room saying out loud to myself, like, 'You have enough problems. You are not gonna let this happen.'

A huge part of what animates homophobia among young people is paranoia and fear of their own capacity to be gay themselves.

I don't think closeted homosexual morticians have the market cornered on self-loathing or sense of shame.

I've been openly gay since I can remember.

I was raised thinking I'd burn in hell for being gay, but I didn't have a choice. It's just who I am.