A curated register of quotes from under-represented voices.

“ Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare. ”

— Audre Lorde, 1988

“ Your silence will not protect you. ”

— Audre Lorde, 1977

“ A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. ”

— Virginia Woolf, 1929

“ Pressure is a privilege. ”

— Billie Jean King, 2008

“ Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. ”

— James Baldwin, 1962

“ You write in order to change the world. ”

— James Baldwin

“ You gotta give them hope. ”

— Harvey Milk, 1977

“ Hope will never be silent. ”

— Harvey Milk

“ We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers. ”

— Bayard Rustin

“ It is a revolutionary act simply to be who you are. ”

— Laverne Cox

“ If you can't love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else? ”

— RuPaul, 2009

“ Be kind to one another. ”

— Ellen DeGeneres

“ Being gay is among the greatest gifts God has given me. ”

— Tim Cook, 2014

“ There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself. ”

— Hannah Gadsby

“ I'm tired of being invisible. ”

— Sylvia Rivera

“ I won't be a rock star. I will be a legend. ”

— Freddie Mercury

“ I shall dance all my life. ”

— Josephine Baker

“ What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful. ”

— Sappho

“ I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go. ”

— Langston Hughes

“ Growing up in the Western world, there are so many times where I'm like, Oh, I'm not white. My name is not that easy to say. I'm not as relatable as a white person. ”

— Rina Sawayama, 2020

“ For the longest time I was trying to be white and fit in, that's also fine at some points in your life, I had to do that to survive in certain spaces. ”

— Rina Sawayama, 2020

“ I mostly have to think about identity when it's imposed on me. When people on the street send slurs my way. When forms require me to pick a gender. ”

— Alok Vaid-Menon

“ There are as many genders as there are people. ”

— Alok Vaid-Menon, 2022

“ There's absolutely nothing wrong with you. ”

— Elliot Page, 2023

“ I can't overstate the biggest joy, which is really seeing yourself. I know I look different to others, but to me I'm just starting to look like myself. ”

— Elliot Page, 2021

“ I never want to shy away from acknowledging who I am, being authentic as much as I can be. It's an important thing to be able to say, 'Yes, I'm out. I'm not ashamed of any part of who I am.' ”

— Sharice Davids, 2018

“ Having such a diverse group of people coming into Congress is going to make a difference, because no matter if your experience is very similar to mine or completely different than mine, it's just as real and it's just as valid. ”

— Sharice Davids, 2018

“ We all have agency over our own stories, and no one can strip you of that agency. Your story is yours and it's your story to tell. ”

— Janet Mock, 2014

“ Just me existing, as an openly black transgender woman from a working-class background, thriving, is a political act. ”

— Laverne Cox

“ Ever since I could form coherent thoughts, I knew I was a girl trapped inside a boy's body. There was never any confusion in my mind. ”

— Jazz Jennings, 2016

“ I hope it's a bit of a love letter to everyone who feels different, who feels out of place, to all of the Black women who have walked into rooms and felt like they haven't been welcomed. ”

— Cynthia Erivo, 2024

“ People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear. ”

— Frank Ocean, 2012

“ This is politics for me. This is my life. I had to fight my entire life to get to the place where I could wear a dress to the Oscars. ”

— Billy Porter, 2019

“ Your sexuality and your gender identity are one part of who you are. But it's so important that you focus on who you are and what you want for yourself. ”

— Munroe Bergdorf

“ Hashtags do not start movements. People do. ”

— Alicia Garza

“ At first we were fighting people to even say Black lives matter. Now everybody's saying Black lives matter. The question now is, well, what do you mean? ”

— Alicia Garza

“ If it wasn't for the drag queen, there would be no gay liberation movement. ”

— Sylvia Rivera, 2001

“ We're all in the same boat as long as we're being oppressed one way or the other, whether we are gay, straight, trans, black, yellow, green, purple, or whatever. ”

— Sylvia Rivera, 2001

“ If me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade. ”

— Pete Buttigieg, 2019

“ The money part also allows you freedom, freedom to speak out, freedom to make bold choices, freedom to maybe go against your federation. ”

— Megan Rapinoe, 2022

“ Let's let everybody know it's okay to have a mental illness, it's okay to have an addiction problem. ”

— Demi Lovato, 2018

“ Depression is not as easy as saying, 'Just find your joy and you're going to become happy.' That was never my experience. ”

— Jonathan Van Ness, 2019

“ Everyone thinks women should be thrilled when we get crumbs, and I want women to have the cake, the icing, and the cherry on top too. ”

— Billie Jean King

“ I believe that at the end of the century the use of words and general educated opinion will have altered so much that one will be able to speak of machines thinking without expecting to be contradicted. ”

— Alan Turing, 1950

“ I'm a soccer player, I'm Christian, and I'm gay. Those are things that people might say wouldn't go well together. But my family raised me to be an individual and to stand up for what I believe in. ”

— Robbie Rogers, 2013

“ It is not an issue if a straight man plays rugby, and I hope my decision will ensure it is not an issue if a gay man plays rugby. ”

— Gareth Thomas, 2009

“ I am lucky. I bring the voice of someone who has survived against the odds. ”

— Dr J Harrison

“ Including me is about challenging the structures that got us all around the table. ”

— Dr J Harrison

“ The LGBTQIA+ experiences across the world are as diverse as the LGBTQIA+ community itself. ”

— Karthik Darmasetti

“ For me it [Pride] means that we can't take our accomplishments for granted. ”

— Susana Santos

“ As someone whose human rights are under debate, it is scary at the moment. ”

— Dr J Harrison

“ Equality is intersectional and gives everyone freedom to be ourselves safely. ”

— Lila Schallert-Wygal

“ Equality for LGBTQIA+ folks in Thailand means 'legal equality.' ”

— Cyndy Bangsalee, 2022

“ It means that we still have much ground to cover in order to have equality. There are laws to be made, culture to be changed and prejudice and stereotypes to be deconstructed. ”

— Gabi Andrade, 2022

“ We have to recognize the disparity around the globe that LGBTQIA+ people experience when it comes to existing as themselves. ”

— Ben Caunt, 2022

“ Many of us can sashay through swung open doors of acceptance and opportunity with grace and ease: doors pried open with the blood, sweat and tears of those before us. ”

— Frank Reta, 2022