Mark Takano Quotes

I always feel that my whole life is representing the LGBT community. It's kind of what I do all the time.

I'm representing the LGBT community, and I want to do well for them.

As a person in the LGBT community, I feel like I've begun to do my job.

As a gay man, I think the role of culture is central to how you change politics - culture is politics.

It's about how you exist as a person in the world, and the idea that your work is more important than you as a person is a horrible, horrible message. I always think about a little gay boy in Wisconsin or a little lesbian in Arkansas seeing someone like me, and if I cannot be open in my life, how on earth can they?

I can't take on all the worries of the world, you know. I can only talk about being gay and being an actor. I'll have to leave those other battles to somebody else.

I think being gay and gay people are the most wonderful things in the world. I wish all of us could have the power and pride to benefit from what is rightfully ours. Why isn't there an enormous building in Washington called the 'National Association of Lesbian and Gay Concerns' to lobby for us?

The Olympics is a cool opportunity to represent our country, which is amazing. But I have another community I am competing for, and that is the LGBT community.

I came out to be on television as a person, as a woman. And this can be a great thing for my community.

I have the LGBT audience behind me, and there's all these people that I want to make proud, and I want to do well aside from just myself.

I like to give a voice to others, especially things neglected or despised.

It doesn't annoy me but I think of myself as a presenter who is gay, rather than a gay presenter. It's a subtle distinction, but that's how I view it.

I have a lot of LGBT friends and family members and I've always supported the community, not only as a child but as an adult, and I think it's important to voice that.

I know there are a lot of people out there who have the best intentions but not the voice, so it's about people like me to give them a voice and hear their ideas.

If I don't get a TV show next year because someone looks up my Wikipedia and it says 'openly gay,' then it's worth the risk because I've had so many years being openly gay and proud of myself as a role model.

I was horrified when Richard Chamberlain and Rupert Everett said gay actors should stay in the closet. They were saying to people that they should live a lie and not be liberated, to live in fear of being found out.

Coming out is a means of redefining oneself, of claiming membership in a lifestyle and a social order with distinct values. Chief among these values is honesty.

Open a door for the disaffected of your State to come in.

I wrote 'Milk' for me. I wrote it for the younger version of me that had no clue that there are people who'd ever fought for my rights.

I hope that a lot of the men and women who feel forgotten in this country really see that they have in me a champion.

I didn't want the responsibility, I didn't know how to handle the responsibility of speaking for the gay community. I always felt like I owed them a huge apology for coming out too late.

I do feel that I have to use my voice for those that don't have one. I have to do the best I can in my own work to represent my culture, represent the women of my country, of Latin America. What we stand for. What we're made of.

I grew up looking for myself onscreen and never could find myself. And I believe that I am supposed to be Toula to show people that it's O.K. to be different.

I represent opportunities for other women and other people of color, and I'm trying to start my own kind of movement.

We, as communities that are marginalized, need to open up our minds and realize that we should be asking and advocating for more of everyone. Let's get more gay black men; let's get more trans women.