“Gays are beginning to realize what blacks learned long ago: Unless you are out here fighting for yourself then nobody else will help you. I think the gay community has a moral obligation to continue the fight.”

The only weapon we have is our bodies, and we need to tuck them in places so wheels don’t turn

My activism did not spring from my being gay, or, for that matter, from my being black. Rather, it is rooted fundamentally in my Quaker upbringing and the values that were instilled in me by my grandparents who reared me.

You have to join every other movement for the freedom of people.

When I say I love Eastland, it sounds preposterous a man who brutalizes people. But you love him or you wouldn’t be here. You’re going to Mississippi to create social change and you love Eastland in your desire to create conditions which will redeem his children.

The Journey of Reconciliation was organized not only to devise techniques for eliminating Jim Crow in travel, but also as a training ground for similar peaceful projects against discrimination in such major areas as employment and in the armed services.

I believe there are certain types of movements which cannot be married.

Bigotrys birthplace is the sinister back room of the mind where plots and schemes are hatched for the persecution and oppression of other human beings.

If anyone thinks they’re going to get anything out of the Reagan administration for any particular group, they’re wrong!

We are all one – and if we don’t know it, we will learn it the hard way.

When an individual is protesting society’s refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.

Both morally and practically, segregation is to me a basic injustice. Since I believe it to be so, I must attempt to remove it.

The real radical is that person who has a vision of equality and is willing to do those things that will bring reality closer to that vision. . .

The organizers and perpetuators of segregation are as much the enemy of America as any foreign invader.

The new ‘niggers’ are gays. It is in this sense that gay people are the new barometer for social change. The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay people.

Every gay who is in the closet is ultimately a threat to the freedom of gays.

My activism did not spring from being black…The racial injustice that was present in this country during my youth was a challenge to my belief in the oneness of the human family.

I wouldn’t wanna fight me, because I know it wouldn’t be a good outcome for both.

The radios are going to dictate. That’s another fight. That’s another story there. I wish they just let it be.

GREED AND COMPETITION ARE NOT THE RESULT OF IMMUTABLE HUMAN TEMPERMENT…

I am so fascinated with this century it will help keep me alive. I’ll be there until the last minute, fighting.

People will never fight for your freedom if you have not given evidence that you are prepared to fight for it yourself.

I didn’t need to take any fight for the last 10 years. But I’ve always fought the best and I’ve always wanted to prove myself to the best.

I am convinced that knowledge is power – to overcome the past, to change our own situations, to fight new obstacles, to make better decisions.

I am not fighting for success, just to get more beauty out of myself and share it with more people.