Del Shores Quotes

I decided to host a couple of the 'In The Life' programs. And I did that really as a result of meeting a lot of young gay people in the Midwest who really had nothing to relate to. At least I felt this program is presenting them with some options.

Outside of being an actress, I feel like being out is the biggest way that gay people can change perception. There are people that give millions of dollars to gay organizations but are closeted to their own families.

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.

The moment I realised anyone could be watching - and this is going to sound so name-droppy - was when Ricky Martin reached out to me on Coming Out Day 2012. The Internet has this massive potential, and you can never know the effect you might have on others by just being yourself.

Gay people - generally speaking - have a responsibility to our own community and to future generations of gay people to come out, if and when we feel that we can.

Well, I always looked at Mulan as a movie about a lesbian coming out.

Coming out to gays is a way of affirming sanity and self-worth.

Lesbian humor isn't trying to sell anything, it doesn't have to sell out. Coming out as a lesbian onstage is still a very political act; if it weren't, more women would do it.

If every gay person were to come out only to his/her own family, friends, neighbors and fellow workers, within days the entire state would discover that we are not the stereotypes generally assumed.

I have always thought it was a terrible shame that the women's movement didn't realise how much easier it was to reach people by making them laugh than by shaking a fist and saying, 'Don't you see how oppressed you are?'

When I came out, it wasn't a big formal conversation like in the movies. I just started living as my true and authentic self and opened up my life to my parents - sharing who I was, and bringing a girlfriend when I came home for a visit. To my great surprise, my parents accepted me for who I was and have supported me since.

If you listen to PWR BTTM, or to Gloss, If you look at me on stage, it can make you feel less alone. It makes you feel like you're a queer person and you have this singular power, but it's not like we're a brand. We're just real.

I never thought in a million years I'd be involved in a project that celebrated the fullness of my identity of being queer and Asian.

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.

The word queer first started being used in the late 1980s by members of the community who wanted to reclaim something negative and turn it into a positive. It's still a painful word for some, and lots of people don't identify with it. But for me it's a helpful and empowering term that unifies an ever-growing community.

For the sexuality thing, I really feel like the reason I speak so blunt about it is because I held it in for so long. I never told my mom. I never told my family. I kept it to myself. Now, I'm happy with who I am. Either you accept it, or you don't. There's a lot of rappers out there that's like that, but no one's stepping up.

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.

When I played Hope in 'Booksmart,' I was like, 'I could see myself with a woman.' Because, literally, I was seeing myself with a woman.

I remember when we were going to release 'Dancing On My Own,' and I went into the record label crying to them that I was terrified people wouldn't support me anymore if they knew I was gay.

The process of coming out was critical to getting where we are today: coming out to our friends, our family, our co-workers, God forbid, to our clients.

My favorite job, and definitely the one that means the most to me, is 'Queer Eye.'

I've played gay, and I've played straight... I'm proud to be a gay man myself, and I'm thrilled to get the opportunity to play a variety of different gay men.

I'm not saying that being straight is easy, but when you're gay, you don't really have a familial network or support system. You have to find that.

Harvey Milk was a friend of mine, an important gay leader in San Francisco in the '70s, and he carried a really important message about how important it was to be visible, how important it was to come out, and that was the single most important thing we had to do.

If I had seen 'Pose' in the years I was a kid, it would have probably meant everything to me.