Martina Navratilova Quotes

I feel like I'm opening the doors for more people. That they feel more comfortable being out. Especially in the hip-hop community.

The more people come out, the less it will be an issue. Of we are ashamed of ourselves, how the hell can we expect the rest of the world not to be ashamed of us?

My sexuality is something I'm completely comfortable with and open about. There's a lot of prejudice toward us but the more people talk about it, the less of a big deal it will be. And that will be better for everyone.

I will continue to be open in my music and in interviews and keep those conversations going about the issues we face as an LGBT+ community until those conversations no longer need to be had.

I want more people to hear me and be part of the change that everyone would benefit from: the change we need so that people like me can be safe and happy.

I think it's so important to have visibility and to break down stereotypes and stigmas and everything that people are so attached to.

Coming out, all the way out, is offered more and more as the political solution to our oppression.

There is a fantasy as old as the modern gay rights movement that if all our skins turned lavender overnight, the majority, confounded by our numbers and our diversity, and recognising a few of our faces, would at once let go of prejudice forevermore.

God love Neil Patrick Harris - how great is that. People grew up with him; they go, 'Oh it's him, it's that little boy and he just happens to be gay. How great for him!' The more of those kind of examples that happen, the better it's going to be.

If you really want change, you really want it to be inclusive, where everyone's included, otherwise you're just going to have more of the same in the future.

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.

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.

By making the gay character funny and sweet but above all normal, you make a far better, longer lasting statement than you would if you had an entirely gay comedy.

Asian-Americans are fighting for space and fighting for visibility and for acceptance.

The more we reach out and become vulnerable and share our stories, the more people we will meet that will unite and help us to achieve more equality.

The only way to really change perceptions, to break down barriers, break down homophobia, is through representation. That's definitely not something I had as a kid. I never saw a gay athlete kissing their boyfriend at the Olympics. I think if I had, it would've made it easier for me.

I want my music to be not only representative of other people's lives but also contributing something to the struggle that people are going through.

The most moving responses I got to my coming out in the first place was people, like teenagers, letting me know that it made their lives easier in some way.

Leftism should be about the people. That's how it began.

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.

You've got to stop dividing yourselves. You got to organize.

I want to be a champion for the people I have fought for all my life - regular people.

Homeboy Industries has chosen to stand with the 'demonized' so that the demonizing will stop; it stands with the 'disposable' so that the day will come when we stop throwing people away.

The work of community, love, reconciliation, restoration is the work we cannot leave up to politicians. This is the work we are all called to do.

They might have a long way to go before truly accepting gay people into their lives, but they have accepted the show into their living rooms each and every week.