Masha Gessen Quotes

For as long as I can remember, I've always been interested in issues of social justice, political freedom, and civil rights.

You can't put civil rights on the ballot.

If two people of the same sex fall in love and want to marry, why would our government stand in their way?

We got the vote, which we should've been born with, in 1920. Everything we've had to struggle for - it's ridiculous.

In some countries, women aren't allowed to wear a swimsuit.

Sometime in the not too distant future, denying gays the right to marry will be viewed as historically corrupt - as corrupt as denying slaves their freedom.

Resolved, that the women of this nation in 1876, have greater cause for discontent, rebellion and revolution than the men of 1776.

All I did was ask for rights. I didn't attack anyone. I didn't harass anyone. I didn't oppose the system or the country or the authority. All I said is, 'Why can't I drive?'

Freedom and justice cannot be parceled out in pieces to suit political convenience. I don't believe you can stand for freedom for one group of people and deny it to others.

I believe the equal rights amendment is a necessity of life for all citizens. The cabinet sometimes felt that I shouldn't be so outspoken.

Too often, advances in civil rights or women's rights are undermined by wrong-headed legislation or weak-kneed political leadership.

Every principle of liberty enunciated in any civilized country on earth, with very few exceptions, was intended entirely for men, and when women tried to force the putting into practice of these principles, for women, then they discovered they had come into a very, very unpleasant situation indeed.

The USA was founded in the name of democracy, equality and individual freedom, but is failing to deliver the fundamental promise of protecting rights for all.

America is a dirty rag if it will not protect all of its citizens.

With what moral authority can they [the U. S.] speak of human rights — the rulers of a nation in which the millionaire and beggar coexist; the Indian is exterminated; the black man is discriminated against; the woman is prostituted; and the great masses of Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, and Latin Americans are scorned, exploited, and humiliated?

Communist countries consider all people, even their own, as secondary and only of value as they serve the state. Nevertheless those of us who live in democratic countries are always shocked and angered by the apparent indifference that a Communist regime has for what happens to individuals

Religious liberty was never intended to give one religion dominion over other religions, or a veto power over the civil rights and civil liberties of others. However, today, as in the past, religion is being used as both a weapon and a shield by those seeking to deny others equality. In our nation’s past religion has been used to justify slavery and later, Jim Crow laws. We now see “religious liberty” arguments sneaking their way back into our political and constitutional discourse (just like the concept of “state rights”) in an effort to undermine the rights of some Americans.

If, in this country, a simple majority of people can start stripping away the rights of a protected class in the minority, that's a pretty alarming thing.

People are dying in vain because this country isn't holding their end of the bargain up as far as, you know, giving freedom and justice and liberty to everybody.

I talked and talked of everything I know about the white man's inhuman treatment of the Negro.

I've always felt very strongly about human rights for blacks, women, and gays. Our Constitution is about equality for all - that's got to mean something to all of us.

'The Handmaid's Tale' is a human story, and women's rights are human rights, and it's all about equality, but at the end of the day, it's not equal.

Here in America, just as we see such incredible progress happening in one state, we see another state passing absolutely disgusting and oppressive laws against the rights of all sorts of people - transgender people, gay people, women.

Some suggest that, as a woman, I meddle in political affairs and need to be 'put in my place.'

I grew up as a discriminated minority in a dictatorship, so obviously the issue of human rights is a matter of concern for me.