Harvey Milk Quotes

I think coming out, for me, is really about tearing down the prison wall.

I spent 24 years in the closet wanting to talk so desperately about who I was and what I am but too afraid to.

I didn't come out for 21 years because I thought that everything I wanted to do with my life - have a family, get a great job, make a change in this world - that the moment I came out, that I would not be able to do any of those things.

I think it's always good for gay people to come out, but it's also understandable why people might choose not to do so.

Telling the world is the most difficult experience of my life, but it is very close to having to live through the experience that occasion this meeting.

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

Someone once told me that being in the closet is like living in a vertical casket. Perfect description.

When you make that choice of stepping out and facing the issue of disclosure, you do create this kind of self-imposed negative fear. It's unfortunate it still happens today. 'Do I step out and say I'm a gay guy?' But you have got to do it and live your life on your terms and no one else's terms.

Gay men can sometimes feel ashamed or chastised when the messaging is 'Be out and proud!' or 'Just come out.' It's not that easy. It certainly wasn't for me.

I'd always been a little bit uncomfortable talking about my sexuality just because it took me a while to fully accept it. I had a bit of traumatic time with my friends when I was younger, and it kind of just put me off talking about it.

Coming out of the closet doesn't always mean liberation.

Being gay and coming up in New Orleans was not easy. At first I was very terrified and very timid.

I've always been someone who's had to compartmentalize my life because I was in the closet, and I was in fear of outing myself. I always had so much going on in my mind and couldn't share it with anyone, so I actually feel like, now that I'm out, I have less to compartmentalize.

The fact that, for so many generations, ordinary, everyday Americans came out of the closet and told their family and friends about who they are has laid the foundation for public sentiment to change. They got comfortable in their own skins to be able to share themselves with family and friends. This is where social change took place.

And I used to say, 'I'm black, too.' In other words, I - my whole life I've been called a half-breed, a convict, king of the trailer trash, this and that. I take that and stand.

Gay men have to go through something to own their - who they are. They get beat up. They get ostracized. Whatever they go through, if they survive it, they come out very confident people.

I would never advise anyone to stay in the closet to further their careers - I'm sure it leads to big fat gay ulcers. There are actors I know who won't come out, and I can see it crippling them as human beings. It's a great shame that people can't be who they are in the 21st century, and people won't let them be who they are.

I was 'gay-bashed' when I was in school even though, you know, I'm not... I'm a straight guy that just happens to be what I do. So, it's easily relatable to me. It was awful. It's a hard time in a kid's life.

The most important thing for me was to never, ever, ever deny it. But I didn't really have the courage to talk about it. I was thinking, The people who need to know I'm gay know.

Anyone in public life who comes out, comes out primarily for themselves, and their life is immediately improved. That's what happened to me.

Homosexuals reject the process of healing because it's too painful and time-consuming.

I'm not saying that being gay is what defines me, but at the same time, if you feel like you have to hide it, then it becomes what defines you. You keep it hidden, and the secret becomes you.

Coming out is the most political thing you can do.

Coming out was painful, but life got so much better for me.

I am not gay, but if I were, I would be the first one running out of the closet.