Quotes from David Furnish

Fear and ignorance fuel so much homophobia.

I've had many friends over the years who have been in same-sex relationships, and the family denies hospital visitations when one is sick. Or when the estate is settled and people who have built a life together has everything taken away from them either by the families or the taxman.

Kids will often see something different and feel insecure about it because they don't understand it.

I'm a great pop culture lover, and I'm not a snob.

Out of ignorance and fear comes judgment and division.

I think we all need to believe in hope: that if we have dreams and if we have ambitions and if we have skills and talents - that if you really put your heart into something and you work at it hard enough - that you can make your dreams come true.

I love diamond jewellery on men, and pocket scarves, cravats, cufflinks. The trick is to throw it together so it's natural and not contrived. That's real style.

I'd spent my twenties trying to be everything to everybody. I had my family, my straight friends, and I was starting to develop a gay circle of friends. I was seeing some men, seeing some women, and trying to sort it all out.

I can't say to Elton, 'Hey, let's walk around the corner and have a coffee.' Someone as well-known as that can't go anywhere in the world without being recognised. Elton has written the soundtrack to a lot of people's lives, so they feel a kinship with him, so they come up, and that does colour things.

We absolutely need more role models. I think we need more people to come forward and be proud of who they are.

I came from a happy family with loving parents, so my associations with marriage and children were all happy, positive things that brought me comfort as a child, which I wanted in my life.

Unfortunately, celebrity is a powerful thing. It can influence people, but if it can influence people in a good way, then that's a great thing.

I had a lot of failed relationships, a lot of unhappiness, a lot of shame and embarrassment, bad self-image stuff.

I like Madonna's music but not her movies. She should stick to what she is good at.

In strictly medical terms, there's no difference between HIV and diabetes; they're not curable, but they're very, very highly treatable, and early information is power. The only thing - literally the only thing - that is different is the stigma. And we have to overcome it, because it is now the only reason people are dying.

I haven't done much art shopping in Vegas. It tends to be from galleries that are London- or L.A.- or New York-based. We've never had someone standing over our shoulder telling us something is a good investment.

I studied really, really hard, rather boringly.

You have to acknowledge that films that have a strong concept and are easily marketed to people are the ones that stand the biggest chance of success.

Animation films are about entertainment and about fun for the whole family, and if you went too far down a dark path, it's not what people, I think, expect from a great animated film.

People don't ask me for my autograph.

Knowing your HIV status is so important for your future health and that of your loved ones.