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. . . .

The love expressed between women is particular and powerful because we have had to love in order to live; love has been our survival.

... it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence.

The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house.

Oppression is as American as apple pie.

I know the anger lies inside of me like I know the beat of my heart and the taste of my spit. It is easier to be furious than to be yearning. Easier to crucify myself in you than to take on the threatening universe of whiteness by admitting that we are worth wanting each other.

...and that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength.