Most writers tend to get worse rather than better. I'm determined to be one that gets better.
Edmund WhiteRead
The Stonewall riots were a key moment for gay people. Throughout modern history, gays had thought of themselves as something like a mental illness or maybe a sin or a crime. Gay liberation allowed us to make the leap to being a 'minority group,' which made life much easier.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The Stonewall riots were pivotal in transforming perceptions of gay identity from one of shame to pride as a minority group.
Edmund White highlights the significance of the Stonewall riots in the journey towards gay liberation. Before this moment, many gay individuals viewed their identities through a lens of stigma, shame, and criminality. The events at Stonewall sparked a powerful shift that allowed the LGBTQ+ community to embrace their identities as a legitimate minority group, fostering a sense of pride and belonging that eased the struggles they faced in society.
Themes
StonewallGay LiberationIdentityMinority GroupPride
In practice
Example use cases
A speech at a pride event celebrating the advancements made in LGBTQ+ rights.
More from Edmund White
All quotes →I've always seen writing as a way of telling the truth. For me, writing is about truth. I have always tried to be faithful to my own experience.
Edmund WhiteRead
In a memoir, your main contract with the reader is to tell the truth, no matter how bizarre.
Edmund WhiteRead
If bigots oppose gay marriage so vehemently, it must be because marriage is a defining institution for them; gays will never be fully accepted until they can marry and adopt, like anyone else.
Edmund WhiteRead
When we are young... we often experience things in the present with a nostalgia-in-advance, but we seldom guess what we will truly prize years from now.
Edmund WhiteRead
I was never an assimilationist. I always thought gays had some special mission.
Edmund WhiteRead
Similar quotes
The liberation of the earth, the liberation of women, the liberation of all humanity is the next step of freedom we need to work for, and it's the next step of peace that we need to create.
Vandana ShivaRead
We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.
Jim RohnRead
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude.
Maya AngelouRead
The magnitude of this evil among us is so deeply felt, and so universally acknowledged, that no merit could be greater than that of devising a satisfactory remedy for it.
James MadisonRead
When one burns one's bridges, what a very nice fire it makes.
Dylan ThomasRead
Let us come together before we're annihilated.
Stevie WonderRead