“It is revolutionary for any trans person to choose to be seen and visible in a world that tells us we should not exist.” – Laverne Cox

“Do not allow people to dim your shine because they are blinded. Tell them to put on some sunglasses, because we were born this way.” – Lady Gaga

“There will not be a magic day when we wake up and it’s now okay to express ourselves publicly. We make that day by doing things publicly until it’s simply the way things are.” – Tammy Baldwin

“Darling, I want my gay rights now.” – Marsha P. Johnson

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” – E.E. Cummings

“People used to think I was a monster. And for a long time, I believed them. But after a while, you learn to ignore the names that people call you and you just trust who you are.” – Shrek

“To be yourself is truly a revolutionary act. And I think more and more people should try it, because it’s gotten me a pretty cool life.” – Lena Waithe

“Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.” – Harvey Fierstein

“The single best thing about coming out of the closet is that nobody can insult you by telling you what you’ve just told them.” – Rachel Maddow

“How can people change their minds about us if they don’t know who we are?” – Harvey Milk

“Personally, coming out was one of the most important things I’ve ever done, lifting from my shoulders the millstone of lies that I hadn’t even realized I was carrying.” – Sir Ian McKellen

“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.” – Brené Brown

“I believe that marriage isn’t between a man and a woman, but between love and love.” – Frank Ocean

“We deserve to experience love fully, equally, without shame, and without compromise.” – Elliot Page

“Self-love means that I have a relationship with myself built on trust and loyalty. I trust myself to have my own back, so my allegiance is to the voice within.” – Glennon Doyle

“To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow – this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.” – Elizabeth Gilbert

“The more I’ve been able to learn about gay rights and equal pay and gender equity and racial inequality, the more that it all intersects. You can’t really pick it apart. It’s all intertwined.” – Megan Rapinoe

“We cannot be antiracist if we are homophobic or transphobic… All Black lives include those of poor transgender Black women, perhaps the most violated and oppressed of all the Black intersectional groups.” – Ibram X. Kendi

“Gender is between your ears and not between your legs.” – Chaz Bono

“Being transgender is not just a medical transition. It’s discovering who you are, living your live authentically, loving yourself, and spreading that love towards other people and accepting one another, no matter the difference.” – Jazz Jennings

“We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag.” – RuPaul

“It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals.” – Emma Watson

“Gender is not what people look like to other people; it is what we know ourselves to be. No one else should be able to tell you who you are; that’s for you to decide…Man and woman are two of many – stars in a constellation that do not compete but amplify one another’s shine.” – Alok Vaid-Menon

“No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow.” – Alice Walker

“Being an ally can’t just be about nodding when someone says something we agree with – important as that is. It must also be about action. It’s our job to stand up for those who are not at the table when life-altering decisions are made.” – Kamala Harris

“When we’re free to love anyone we choose, when this world’s big enough for all different views, when we all can worship from our own kind of pew – then, we shall be free.” – Garth Brooks

“We need to own that if you truly are taking stands against hate and oppression, you should not fund hate and oppression. Period.” – Gabrielle Union

“We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are.” – Sylvia Rivera

“The whole issue of sexuality is so grey. I’m just trying to acknowledge that fluidity, that greyness, which has always existed. But maybe only now are we allowed to start talking about it.” – Kristen Stewart

“Love demands expression. It will not stay still, stay silent, be good, be modest, be seen and not heard, no. It will break out in tongues of praise, the high note that smashes the glass and spills the liquid.” – Jeanette Winterson

“Each step forwards to become the person we are makes it harder to go backwards, to return to the shadowy, private world of closed doors and shuttered windows. The experience, the awakening of one’s true self, after being so long suppressed, can never be adequately explained with language.” – Lili Elbe

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” – Audre Lorde

“If I wait for someone else to validate my existence, it will mean that I’m shortchanging myself.” – Zanele Muholi

“There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s a lot wrong with the world you live in.” – Chris Colfer

“This community has fought and continues to fight a war of acceptance, a war of tolerance and the most relentless bravery. You are the definition of courage, do you know that?” – Lady Gaga

“Never stop believing in yourself. You had it all along.” – Karamo Brown

“For a lot of my life, I was judged for my gender representation or my sexual orientation, or what people assumed of me; and every single time my goal has been to combat that and show my greatness.” – Taylor Small

“I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive.” – Elliot Page

“Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizen of this country.” – Zachary Quinto

“All of us who are openly gay are living and writing the history of our movement. We are no more — and no less — heroic than the suffragists and abolitionists of the 19th century; and the labor organizers, Freedom Riders, Stonewall demonstrators, and environmentalists of the 20th century.” – Tammy Baldwin

“I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act.” – Janet Mock

“We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.” – Bayard Rustin

“History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable. It happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.” – Marsha P. Johnson

“Our community is not a monolith, thank goodness, any more than America itself is. I look forward to and will continue to work toward the day when America recognizes all of us as full and equal citizens.” – Cynthia Nixon

“All human beings deserve equal treatment, no matter their gender identity or sexuality.” – Andreja Pejic

“Love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.” – James Baldwin

“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” – Audre Lorde

“When I was younger, I wish I would have been told more often that I was right and nothing was wrong with me, that I was deserving of everything this world has to offer, and that my visions for my future were worthy of pursuit.” – Janet Mock