George Takei Quotes

All parents should be aware that when they mock or curse gay people, they may be mocking or cursing their own child.

For a long time, I lived in West Hollywood and watched young gay men strolling through life having no idea what came before. They didn't know about the riots at Stonewall, the vice squad, the raids.

If you look at the history of the LGBTQ community, from my perspective growing up as I did in the U.K. in the '50s, there was just terrible, terrible discrimination, you know? It was extremely difficult to live your life as you should have been allowed to do.

I've met many lesbian, gay and trans activists who've told me what they face, sometimes even within the school gates: hate crime, fear of discrimination, physical and verbal abuse, domestic violence and homelessness.

The most important fact is that gays have been here since day one. To say otherwise is a gross denial and stupidity. We played an enormous part in the history of America.

The widely held belief that the heterosexual nuclear family is best for children has long been used as a smoke screen for homophobia and as a talking point to quash marriage-equality efforts.

Imagine living in a state where businesses can legally refuse to serve people based on their sexual orientation. Where parents can force their children to undergo conversion therapy to 'cure' them of their 'homosexual tendencies.'

Gay and lesbian people, and the children they are raising, wrongfully face discrimination, and I want them to know that I'm on their side.

It's illegal to be gay in Little Rock - this is such a reality for so many people, but once people get to these bubbles of New York or L.A. or Boulder, Colorado, they forget.

It's no secret that Cuba is a typical Latin American culture in that it has a fair amount of homophobia. Homosexuals have been notoriously persecuted under Fidel's government.

I've never encountered homophobia in casting from the studios or networks - not once, not ever. Where you encounter it is with the agents and the managers, they're the ones who have an outdated notion of the price an actor might pay if it's discovered that they're LGBTQ.

Everybody knows what my sexual orientation is. I don't need to scream it out. I won't, only because I live in a country where I could possibly be jailed for saying this.

My son has made me more politically active when it comes to LGBTQ rights. When he came out, I worried about what the world was going to be like for him.

Gay Africans must speak up and let everyone know they are there, they have always been there, and that they are not going away.

I happen to know personally that Donald Trump does not have a problem with gay people.

Policing has never been about public safety: its origins are rooted in social control, the denial of people's human rights, securing the U.S. borders, recapturing escaped, enslaved Africans, and upholding racist, homophobic, and transphobic laws.

It's not so easy to be gay or even a woman in some places in the world, and in many countries, it's illegal to be gay. You can be put to death. It's a global struggle. A human rights struggle on a global scale.

I knew marriage was not the answer to changing the conditions for poor, black, queer folks. So I never felt compelled to get married - it just didn't seem important. But even if marriage wasn't right for me at the time, or a quick fix toward black empowerment, I found it repulsive that loving same-sex couples were refused the right.

I really value and appreciate Menaka Guruswamy and Arundhati Katju's contribution in spearheading the historic judgement of decriminalisation of Section 377 in India. Their relentless efforts and fight against the discrimination and violence faced by the LGBTQ community in India was a ray of hope for many of us.

Don't hide behind the Constitution or the Bible. If you're against gay marriage, just be honest, put a scarlet 'H' on your shirt, and say, 'I am a homophobe!'

A society that condemns homosexuality harms itself. (254)

I'm not going to let anyone make it seem like being gay is a bad thing.

Remember, Jesus would rather constantly shame gays than let orphans have a family.

It is a violation of human rights when governments declare it illegal to be gay.

If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nail biters.