“The issue is not that morals be applied to public policy, it’s that conservatives bring public policy to spheres of our lives where it should not enter.”

Serving in Congress is like having a second shot at high school.

For the trustees to turn away from the entirely reasonable request of the students that a hearing-impaired individual be made president of the college is a very unfortunate expression of insensitivity.

The best antidote to prejudice is reality.

I do not think that any self-respecting radical in history would have considered advocating people’s rights to get married, join the Army, and earn a living as a terribly inspiring revolutionary platform.

I wouldn’t want [gay marriage] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court.

Take free speech: most of the tough cases on free speech involve very unpleasant people saying very obnoxious things.

Most people who are activists and are concerned about issues get their information from sources which reinforce their opinions and give them the facts that they want to hear.

We all have the right to call each other names. Rudeness is a deeply held constitutional value.

Ridicule is about the most powerful weapon possible.

I’m used to being in the minority. I’m a left-handed, gay Jew. I’ve never felt, automatically, a member of any majority.

The single most important thing you can do politically for gay rights is to come out. Not to write a letter to your congressman but to come out.

The Moral Majority supports legislators who oppose abortions but also oppose child nutrition and day care. From their perspective, life begins at conception and ends at birth.

But when others suggested that the poor should not simply be the objects of these programs but also the subjects – that they should be actively involved in shaping the programs, making decisions about how to spend the money etc. – some of the previous supporters reconsidered.

They appear to have become so attached to their outrage that they are even more outraged that they won’t be able to be outraged anymore.

If people knew of ethics violations, they should have sent them to the Ethics Committee. If you think there was serious ethics violation that ought to be looked at, you don’t hold it back for retaliatory purposes.

There was a degree of interventionism in American foreign policy, the notion that we must be the superpower and we have to intervene everywhere, that I think makes no sense.

I never told my father I loved him before he died, and I have a lot of issues about that. They’re all swimming around in my head, in my heart, unresolved, and in a way it felt fitting to dedicate the film to him.

Black culture is cool, but black issues sure aren’t, huh?

I personally don’t do any hard drugs, because they get in the way of me getting to my base issues, and I’d rather get rid of the excess baggage than find a way to shove it deeper in the closet.

I know every fight could be my last fight, and if that happens, that’s not just a health issue, but I’ll be knocked off that king’s stool.

When my little son, Prince, had health issues as a baby, we were told that he had a 20 percent chance of survival.

Regarding social media, I really dont understand what appears to be the general populations lack of concern over privacy issues in publicizing their entire lives on the Internet for others to see to such an extent… but hey its them, not me, so whatever.

The Bible is meant to be down-to-earth. It was written for real people facing real issues.

Moral issues are always terribly complex for someone without principles.