My dad was a homicide cop in the gay neighborhood in the city when gay neighborhoods were desperate, depressing, sad places run by the mob. The only gay people he'd met when I came out to him were corpses.
Dan SavageRead
When I was in high school I got involved in the fringe theater scene in Chicago, and I met some openly gay people. I could see that it got better, that they were happy and loved and supported. I saw with my own eyes that it got better.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the positive changes in the lives of openly gay individuals and the supportive communities around them.
In this quote, Dan Savage shares his personal experience of witnessing the lives of openly gay people in the fringe theater scene, highlighting how their happiness and support systems demonstrate a significant improvement in their lives. By emphasizing 'it got better,' he underscores the importance of acceptance and the transformative power of love and community, particularly within the LGBTQ+ context.
Themes
LgbtqAcceptanceCommunitySupportHappiness
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote at a pride event to inspire acceptance and support among audience members.
More from Dan Savage
All quotes →A huge part of what animates homophobia among young people is paranoia and fear of their own capacity to be gay themselves.
Dan SavageRead
It's going to take generations of gay people marrying before these things start to feel natural. We haven't had it long enough to remake it as our own, so it does feel like you're getting dressed up in straight drag to do it.
Dan SavageRead
And that really captures the difference for the bullied straight kid versus the bullied gay kid, is that the bullied straight kid goes home to a shoulder to cry on and support and can talk freely about his experience at school and why he's being bullied. [...] And I couldn't go home and open up to my parents.
Dan SavageRead
A lot of kids are bullied because of their sexual identity or expression. It's often the effeminate boys and the masculine girls, the ones who violate gender norms and expectations, who get bullied.
Dan SavageRead
Like it or not children are being raised by gay and lesbian parents all over America - as many as 10 million children. And it does nothing to make their lives more stable and secure to attack their families, to attack their parents to prevent us from marrying each other.
Dan SavageRead
Similar quotes
So think long and hard about who you're spending the most time with, for wherever they are headed, so are you.
John C. MaxwellRead
I have learned to imagine an invisible sign around each person's neck that says 'Make me feel important.
Mary Kay AshRead
Do you ever wonder whether people would like you more or less if they could see inside you?
John GreenRead
There are many things in your heart you can never tell to another person. They are you, your private joys and sorrows, and you can never tell them. You cheapen yourself, the inside of yourself, when you tell them.
Greta GarboRead
The intuitive connection children feel with animals can be a tremendous source of joy. The unconditional love received from pets, and the lack of artifice in the relationship, contrast sharply with the much trickier dealings with members of their own species.
Frans De WaalRead
Stuff doesn't matter - boats, cars, fancy things don't matter. What matters, what will matter to me, is the love of the people around me, and did I take a chance? Did I seize an opportunity to do something for people with the talents that I was lucky enough to be given? Did I make a difference in the lives of people who needed me?
James ComeyRead