I am not proud to be gay any more than I am proud to be right handed or to breathe oxygen.

Even today every year we lose an awful lot of young people, teenagers, who take their own lives because they're - they are gay or transgender.

I don't blame younger generations for their lack of awareness. Americans in general are not interested in history.

The majority of new infections in America are among young gay and bisexual men of color, and the full resources that could be brought to bear simply are not.

If you tell me I can't understand you because of my color or you can't understand me because of your sexual orientation or she can't understand us because of her faith, well, if you can't have empathy how will you ever have solidarity?

I have no personal desire to get married whatsoever and I certainly have no desire to be a soldier. I'm old school, I'm from gay liberation, we wanted to end war forever and smash the patriarchy and these are values I still hold dear but, I believe that any person who wants to get married should have that right and I know that Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual people serve with distinction in the armed forces, and that when they are killed, supposedly serving our country in these wars, that I personally do not support, their partners back home do not receive death benefits.

When you lose the gayborhoods, you lose the political power that comes when you're concentrated in precincts, and you also lose the cultural vitality.