Helen Clark Quotes

I feel like as a whole, when it comes to the "other" in the US - whatever that looks like for each individual person, whether it be someone who's LGBTQ or someone of color or someone who's just a religion that they've never heard of - whether you're in entertainment or whether you're in any other business, we're not as evolved as we'd like to think.

The more people come out, the less it will be an issue.

I've seen anti-Semitism essentially disappear in my adult life as a social and economic factor. There may be some nuts out there, but generally things are fine. I think the same thing will happen with gayness. We'll get to a point soon enough where it's not even an issue anymore. But progress can be slow

We have to accept the world has become this place where we have to interact with people who are very different from us.

The more gays and lesbians come out - the more people realize that they have a friend who's gay, which they may not have known before, and they realize this person has the same aspirations and desires and need to be committed and to be part of a community - then they become more accepting.

The best counter to the kind of radicalization and marginalization that we've seen in other parts of the world is to create an inclusive society where everyone, including especially Muslim Canadians, have every opportunity to succeed, just like anybody else.

I'm amazed when I hear my daughters with their friends. They'll just talk openly about, 'Yeah, he used to be a girl and now he's a boy.' It gives me a lot of hope... It's so matters of fact. It's like they're saying blue and yellow make green. I love that.

We have a non-traditional family, and if it makes people uncomfortable, it's a shame that they are not more open.

Maybe you are homophobic a little bit, but then you see me, and you've always loved me, and you love the way I play, and your kids love me. And then you're like, 'Oh, that's OK. It's fine.' Once it gets a little bit more personal, it helps break down those barriers.

There are two or three ways to combat homophobia - one is through humor. The second is to put a face on it.

You can argue that it's a different world now than the one when Matthew Shepard was killed, but there is a subtle difference between tolerance and acceptance. It's the distance between moving into the cul-de-sac and having your next door neighbor trust you to keep an eye on her preschool daughter for a few minutes while she runs out to the post office. It's the chasm between being invited to a colleague's wedding with your same-sex partner and being able to slow-dance without the other guests whispering.

What we always want to say [in X-men] is, "It's OK to be yourself, and actually it's a gift to be yourself. Whatever it is that you have, that may be your gift." I think that's what we always want to say, and spread it out, so have tolerance for other people who are different also.

I think any film that asks its audience a degree of tolerance and acceptance of those less fortunate than themselves isn't a bad thing from whatever culture you're in or from whatever part of any political spectrum.

Civilization has evolved toward more acceptance, understanding and tolerance of global thinking. If we accept differences, our creativity booms. It makes life much more colorful. It also makes humanity much more safe. If we see pureness somewhere as something to be desired, the trouble starts.

It just seems like the culture war is over, and the gay kissers won.

There's a place for everything and everyone, you know. That is the mistake they make above. They think that only certain people have a place. Only certain kinds of people belong. The rest is waste. But even waste must have a place. Otherwise it will clog and clot, and rot and fester.

The best antidote to prejudice is reality.

I think we're a little bit more astray, more far afield from true integration and true acceptance.

Inclusion is not a matter of political correctness. It is the key to growth.

We have managed to make the celebration of diversity our mode of resistance.

I'm so sick of the words 'gay' and 'lesbian'. They're just people... One day I want my son to come home from school and be like, 'I found this guy, and I love him.' And I'm gonna be like, 'Yes, you do, and that's ok.'

If there is any message to my work, it is ultimately that it's ok to be different.

I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support. We've got to have equal rights for everyone.

People are becoming more intimately acquainted with people who are different than them - it's not so unusual anymore.

People of different religions and cultures live side by side in almost every part of the world, and most of us have overlapping identities which unite us with very different groups. We can love what we are, without hating what – and who – we are not. We can thrive in our own tradition, even as we learn from others, and come to respect their teachings.