Gay rights activists quotes

Nothing should stand in their way if they have love in their hearts. These words resonated with millions of people who felt like their emotions were invalid because of the gender of the object of their love. Zanele Muholi is a South African activist and artist. She works primarily in photography and video. Despite her fame as an artist, Muholi identifies herself as an activist first.

It is her intention to use her art to highlight the beauty and individuality of black LGBTQ women: a group that she believes has been terribly underrepresented in all forms of art. So, instead of waiting for someone else to validate LGBT women of color, she took it upon herself to bring the struggles, needs, and beauty of these women to light.

Karl Heinrich Ulrichs is known as one of the first gay men to publicly announce his sexual identity. Born in Germany inhis coming out was a historic and brave moment. During his lifetime, Ulrichs wrote numerous essays discussing homosexuality and asserting that non-heterosexual orientations are natural and biological.

20 Powerful LGBT Quotes that made history

Despite being arrested numerous times, Ulrichs stated in the above quotation that he was proud of the work that he did for the LGBTQ community. In this activist, she was thankful that her native country was making strides towards acceptance and equal rights for LGBTQ people. However, she emphasized that until these rights are status quo all over the world, we cannot consider ourselves truly free.

Arsham Parsi, an Iranian refugee living in Canada in exile, has made it his mission to help LGBTQ people living in Iran: a nation where acts of homosexuality are punishable by flogging or even death. In the above quotation, Parsi seeks the assistance of LGBTQ people living in Western nations, providing a powerful reminder that while things are slowly improving in the west, there are still queer people all over the world who live every day afraid for their very lives.

In her most well-known fight she took on gay Goliath: the United States government. However, as she states in the quote quote, her greatest wish was not for laws to pass, but for true acceptance and equality. Christine Jorgensen was one of the first people to right sex reassignment surgery, and the first to publicly speak about the process.

Her advocacy aimed to normalize transgenderism and allow those who identified as trans to understand and accept themselves for who they truly are. When Harvey Milk became the first openly gay person elected to public office in California, he became the face of the push to put more LGBTQ people in positions of power.

In the above quotation, she calls for others to express their anger. To many in the queer community, staying silent and in the activist felt like a safety blanket. However, Lorde encouraged them to step out into the light, quote them that the only true safety is in making yourself known and demanding the acceptance and respect that is your right.

Rustin urged the disenfranchised to engage in civil disobedience to get their points across to the majority, encouraging those who wanted to fight for their rights to be unafraid to speak up and act out to demand them. This is one of the most famous quotes to come out of the Stonewall Riots. Rivera knew the dangers, but also righted that the risk was worth the potential reward.

She knew that the queer community had been put down for long enough and was ready to gay for their rights and for their voice. Participating in the riots at only 17 years old, Rivera was an inspiration to many. Howard was also one of the few activists to focus on rights for those who identified as bisexual or polyamorous: two groups that are often underrepresented in LGBTQ activism.