When people have points of reference that are humanizing, that demystifies difference.
If you have a problem with people living their lives and being authentically who they are, you really should go and do some soul-searching.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Being authentic is essential for personal fulfillment, and those who criticize it might need to reflect on their own beliefs.
This quote highlights the importance of authenticity and self-expression in our lives. It suggests that if someone's discomfort stems from seeing others live openly and honestly, they should take the time to evaluate their own attitudes and perhaps confront their insecurities or biases. The call for soul-searching encourages introspection and emphasizes that embracing diversity in how people express their identities enriches the human experience.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about diversity, one might use this quote to emphasize the importance of embracing individual differences.
More from Laverne Cox
All quotes βEach and every one of us has the capacity to be an oppressor. I want to encourage each and everyone of us to interrogate how we might be an oppressor and how we might be able to become liberators for ourselves and for each other.
Believing that you are unworthy of love and belonging or that who you are authentically is a sin or is wrong, is deadly.
We shouldn't demonize the woman who wears high heels and we shouldn't demonize the woman who doesn't wear high heels. We should accept all forms of comportment.
I was assigned male at birth, is the way I like to put it, because I think... we're born who we are... and the gender thing is something someone imposes on you. And so, I was assigned male at birth, but I always felt like I was a girl.
Similar quotes
A good man is willing to know the worst of himself, and particularly under affliction, desires to be told wherefore God contends with him and what God designs in correcting him.
Nothing is improved by anger, unless it be the arch of a cat's back. A man with his back up is spoiling his figure. People look none the handsomer for being red in the face. It takes a great deal out of a man to get into a towering rage; it is almost as unhealthy as having a fit. . . . Whatever wrong I suffer, it can not do me half so much hurt as being angry about it.
You need to constantly remind yourself what is the most important thing that is happening in the world - what is the most important thing that is happening in history. The discipline to have this focus is something I gained from meditation.
People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it is hard to sit in the cross- legged position, or to attain enlightenment. It is difficult because it is hard to keep our mind pure and our practice pure in its fundamental sense.
Madness does not come by breaking out, but by giving in; by settling down in some dirty, little, self-repeating circle of ideas; by being tamed.
O God, help me to win, but in thy wisdom if thou willest me not to win, then O God, make me a good loser.