Zoey Tur Quotes

The public has always had affection for gay entertainers. The time was right for an out gay entertainer.

When I grew up, there were no songs about gay people.

Personally speaking, growing up as a gay man before it was as socially acceptable as it is now, I knew what it was to feel different, to feel alienated and to feel not like everyone else. But the very same thing that made me monstrous to some people also empowered me and made me who I was.

In the 1980s, there weren't a lot of role models for gay teenagers.

I am the most well-known homosexual in the world.

Ironically, when I've asked my straight friends to join me in hanging a rainbow flag, they answer, 'But someone might think we're gay,' not realizing that is exactly the point. To be mistaken for the oppressed is to momentarily become the oppressed.

Gay TV has been immensely important in transforming American culture in a more gay-positive direction.

Americans don't want cowboys to be gay.

When I started, there was more of a cultural assumption that many readers would find gay characters irrelevant or repugnant.

Someone actually asked me once if I used coming out as a publicity stunt. It's cool that we live in a time when being gay could be seen as helping your career.

The whole principle of coming out is that everyone knows someone who's gay. The minute someone comes out, no one can be a bigot, because someone they love is gay.

Unlike people of my generation, my children and my grandchildren have grown up living with, knowing, people who were outwardly gay and lesbian. And they have learned that they're just like us... And when you see that they're just like us, the rationale for discrimination melts away.

Early on, I got some criticism from other gay writers and queer theorists for being too 'assimilationist,' probably because my characters are outsiders, even in the gay world.

I think we're finally in a culture now where being gay is normalized.

By the mid-noughties, I found that I was no longer the only openly gay person in every setting. At one point, a couple of Moscow magazine publishers even got the idea that they should actively headhunt gay and lesbian staff.

I can't tell you how many letters I've gotten where someone showed 'Sordid Lives' to their mom, dad, or family and used it as a tool to come out.

I'm not homophobic and I'm not anti-gay.

What do you mean you don't believe in homosexuality? It's not like the Easter Bunny, your belief isn't necessary.

By in large in this country the issue of gay rights and equality should be past the point of debate. Really, there should be no debate anymore.

Today, it seems almost everyone knows a friend or relative who is gay.

I can't speak for other people, but for me, I feel like gone are the days that you need to come out of a closet. I never felt like I was in a closet. I never did. I always felt comfortable with who I am and the decisions I made.

I would advise any gay person that being out in the real sense can never happen too soon.

My truth is I am gay and out, and if I can't do that in my music, then I don't need it. Fortunately, I do feel like there is a movement against homophobia, and I hope to be part of that.

Lesbians and gays... they still have to fight, even inside. It's not that simple, even if they seem to be accepted.

I am going to sing lesbian love songs and support gay rights no matter what. The rest is public relations.