When I came out to my mother in 1990, her first words of advice were to not tell anyone. She said being gay could hurt my nascent career. The reaction was as painful as it was understandable: Back then, the world was a very different place for a 20-something LGBTQ American.
Interpretation
The quote reflects the challenges faced by LGBTQ individuals when coming out, particularly regarding societal acceptance.
Jonathan Capehart's quote illustrates the fear and hesitation many LGBTQ individuals experience when coming out to their loved ones, particularly in a time when societal acceptance was significantly lower. His mother's advice to keep his sexuality hidden highlights the potential risks associated with being openly gay, especially in relation to career prospects, showing the painful realities of a less tolerant society.
In practice
In a speech about LGBTQ rights, one might quote Jonathan Capehart to highlight the historical challenges faced by individuals in the community.
Isn't it sad that really the only times I feel seen as an American are when I'm abroad? I'm not saying racism doesn't exist outside of the United States. What I am saying is that the rest of the world can see that I'm American. Why is it so hard for so many White Americans?
The harsh truth is that 'respectability' is the exorbitant tax we African Americans are forced to pay daily as we try to live out our versions of the American Dream.
Caught in a racial uproar, people make all sorts of promises to make amends. Whatever they do tends to be heavy on symbolism and light on lasting change.
When you're Black in the United States, you grudgingly grow accustomed to having people deny that your existence is integral to everything that makes this country what it is.
There are still too many instances of police neither protecting nor serving LGBTQ and other marginalized communities. But the response shouldn't be to ban LGBTQ police from a parade.
Scapegoating is as American as apple pie. And because there's almost always a racial or ethnic dynamic to it in our country, scapegoating is the evil cousin of white supremacy.
Labeling people single parents, for example, when they may in fact be co-parenting - either with an unmarried other parent in the home or with an ex-spouse in a joint custody situation - stigmatizes their children as the products of 'single parenthood' and makes the uncounted parent invisible to society.
Very often we don’t go elsewhere because we are looking for another person. We go elsewhere because we are looking for another self. It isn’t so much that we want to leave the person we are with as we want to leave the person we have become.
A system could not well have been devised more studiously hostile to human happiness than marriage.
It's funny about men and women. Men pay in cash to get them and pay in cash to get rid of them. Women pay emotionally coming and going. Neither has it easy.
If you limit yourself to sexual pleasure it's narcissistic. You don't connect with the other, you take what pleasure you want from them.
Our willingness to acknowledge that we only see half the picture creates the conditions that make us more attractive to others. The more sincerely we acknowledge our need for their different insights and perspectives, the more they will be magnetized to join us.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.