A handful of works in history have had a direct impact on social policy: one or two works of Dickens, some of Zola, 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' and, in modern drama, Larry Kramer's 'The Normal Heart.'
The way that same-sex marriage should reach the federal level is that it absolutely should be decided by the Supreme Court as quickly as possible. It's a 14th Amendment issue. There's no argument about it.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote advocates for the Supreme Court to decisively allow same-sex marriage based on constitutional rights.
Tony Kushner emphasizes the urgent need for the Supreme Court to address and legalize same-sex marriage at the federal level, arguing that such a decision is rooted in the rights granted by the 14th Amendment. He identifies this matter as clear-cut, suggesting that there should be no debate over the necessity of this legal recognition. It reflects a broader conversation about equality and civil rights under the law.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech advocating for LGBTQ+ rights, one might say, 'As Tony Kushner pointed out, same-sex marriage is a 14th Amendment issue that needs swift resolution by the Supreme Court.'
More from Tony Kushner
All quotes →Artists know that diligence counts as much, if not more, as inspiration; in art, as in politics, patience counts as much as revolution.
I don't understand why I'm not dead. When your heart breaks, you should die
In this world, there is a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind, and dreaming ahead.
Gay TV has been immensely important in transforming American culture in a more gay-positive direction.
The theater requires an essential gullibility that you can't get through life without having. If all you can feel is skepticism-well , you meet people like this. Run away from them. They're not good people.
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Marriage fascinates me: how we negotiate its span, how we change within it, how it changes itself, and why some relationships survive and others do not. There isn't a single marriage that couldn't provide enough narrative arc for a novel.
Husbands never become good; they merely become proficient.
He was making her feel small and absurdly petulant and, worse yet, she suspected he was right. She always suspected he was right. For a brief irrational moment, she wished she could walk away from him. Then she wished, more rationally, that she could love him without needing him. Need gave him power without his trying; need was the choicelessness she often felt around him.
Essentially, the life of expression is the ongoing journey of how we heal each other... for by telling our stories and listening to the stories of others, we let out who we are and find ourselves in each other, and find that we are more together than alone.