If Harvey [Milk] had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours.
Every single person in this world is a minority in one way or another. It just depends on how you slice the pie.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Everyone belongs to a minority group in some form, highlighting the diversity of human experience.
This quote by Dustin Lance Black emphasizes that each individual possesses unique characteristics or experiences that make them part of a minority. It invites reflection on the varied aspects of identity and the importance of recognizing and valuing diversity rather than overlooking it. The phrase 'how you slice the pie' suggests that the perspective we choose to adopt can reveal different facets of a person's identity, encouraging an inclusive view of society.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about human rights to highlight the importance of recognizing individual experiences.
More from Dustin Lance Black
All quotes →How amazing is it that when a young gay or lesbian person has their first crush, no matter where they live in the country, they can imagine that all the way to marriage? When I first experienced a crush, in Texas, there was maybe a second of butterflies that were then dammed in by the fear of what that meant.
My mom was paralyzed from polio at the age of 2, abandoned by her husband, left with a 2-year-old, a 6-year-old and a 10-year-old, and so, we were raising her as much as she was raising us.
I wrote 'Milk' for me. I wrote it for the younger version of me that had no clue that there are people who'd ever fought for my rights.
Gay and lesbian people want to love and be loved. Some of us want to get married. Some want to have and build families. We want our kids to have their lives be a little bit better than what we've had.
I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that this is somehow a stranger who is carrying your child. And this is absolutely not true. Your surrogate becomes one of your best friends and a member of your family.
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Magic never dies. It merely fades away.
If by 'intellectual' you mean people who are a special class who are in the business of imposing thoughts and forming ideas for people in power, and telling people what they should believe...they're really more a kind of secular priesthood, whose task it is to uphold the doctrinal truths of the society. And the population SHOULD be anti-intellectual in that repect.
The purpose of soul questions is to open yourself deeper and deeper until all that is left is the power and beauty you are bringing to the lives of others.
The opposite of every truth is just as true.
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
All that we "know" is what registers on our brains, so what you perceive (your individual reality-tunnel) is made up of nothing but thoughts—as Sir Humphrey Davy noted when self-experimenting with nitrous oxide in 1819, and as Buddha noticed by sitting alone until all his social imprints atrophied and dropped away.