How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race? I mean how many years does it take people to see that? We're all in this rat race together!
Marsha P. JohnsonRead
As long as gay people don't have their rights all across America, there's no reason for celebration.
Interpretation
The lack of equal rights for LGBTQ+ individuals means that true celebration is premature.
Marsha P. Johnson's quote emphasizes the importance of equality and the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights. It underscores the idea that until all individuals are afforded the same rights and dignity, celebrations of progress, particularly in the context of pride and freedom, are not fully justified. This perspective calls for a collective acknowledgment of the ongoing fight for justice and the need for vigilance in the pursuit of equality.
In practice
Use this quote in a speech at a pride rally to emphasize the ongoing struggle for LGBTQ+ rights.
How many years has it taken people to realize that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race? I mean how many years does it take people to see that? We're all in this rat race together!
STAR is a very revolutionary group. We believe in picking up the gun, starting a revolution if necessary. Our main goal is to see gay people liberated and free and have equal rights that other people have in America.
I don't know what I am if I'm not a woman.
A lot of times I've reached my hand out to people in the gay community that just didn't have nobody to help them when they were down and out.
We just were saying no more police brutality. And we had enough of police harassment in the Village and other places.
Darling, I want my gay rights now.
if they put an iron circle around your neck I will bite it away
I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay. I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, "I'm different." If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand.
I spent five years of my life being treated for cancer, but since then I've spent fifteen years being treated for nothing other than looking different from everyone else. It was the pain from that, from feeling ugly, that I always viewed as the great tragedy of my life. The fact that I had cancer seemed minor in comparison.
It was rough being dark. I got heat from my own people more than anyone else. I remember going to my mom and saying, 'Why am I so black?' And she said, 'Because I'm black. You just gotta always work harder than the average bear.'
An act of heroism, of extraordinary courage, the grandeur of it, won't easily inspire us to act in imitation, but it can inspire us to emulate its author. For that, we should learn what we can of the whole experience of the subject, the hero's life, as it was before and after, and believe that trying to emulate the character it reveals is one tried way to prepare for the tests that might await us and gain hope that our courage will not be wanting in the moment.
I'm always captivated by stories of women who find a way to be daring - misbehaving women.
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