I stand here as a black lesbian feminist, having been invited to comment within the only panel at this conference where the input of black feminists and lesbians is represented. What this says about the vision of this conference is sad, in a country where racism, sexism and homophobia are inseparable. . . .

We cannot settle for the pretenses of connection, or for the parodies of self-love.

I have always wanted to be both man and woman, to incorporate the strongest and richest parts of my mother and father within/into me - to share valleys and mountains upon my body the way the earth does in hills and peaks.

If you don’t define yourself for yourself then you will be crushed into other's fantasies of you and eaten alive

I was going to die, if not sooner, then later, whether or not I had ever spoken myself. My silences had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you.

Silence and invisibility go hand in hand with powerlessness.

I agreed to take part in a New York University Institute for Humanities conference a year ago. . . .