Quotes About Stigma

I want people to start thinking about what it means to be HIV-positive and to ask questions about that.

People are real quick to jump at the easiest way to define you.

I'm aware that given what I've done in the past - and having a well-known parent - that people will be very quick to judge my path more than others, but I have to just not care.

When I give lectures, people will wait behind until there is no one around and then tell me quietly, 'I seem to be one of those people who need eight or nine hours' sleep.' It's embarrassing to say it in public.

When it comes to having children or not having children, I don't think we realise how many women have to deal with things quietly.

Describing someone as quirky is a way of erasing them. What does it even mean? In so many interviews over the years, that's how I'm described. It doesn't sit comfortably with me.

Once a heroine is beyond a certain age, she has to graduate to mother's roles or quit.

It seems that when you have cancer you are a brave battler against the disease, but when you have Alzheimer's you are an old fart. That's how people see you. It makes you feel quite alone.

As a race, the Negroes are not lazy.

I was raised to think that rock was music for ignorant people who didn't think for themselves.

The Mafia is a question every time an Italian raises his head.

People pigeonhole me - I'm known for raising more money than any man alive.

When I first ran for Congress in the 1990s, my background as an openly gay Asian was one of the focal points of the campaign, and, in fact, my opponent attacked me for it.

I feel that too much fuss is made about being gay.

I was horrified when Richard Chamberlain and Rupert Everett said gay actors should stay in the closet. They were saying to people that they should live a lie and not be liberated, to live in fear of being found out.

There are a lot of gay people in fashion, but it's not as if every gay person is a great creator.

You live with the fear people might find out. Then you actually have the courage to tell people and they go, I don't think you are gay. It's enough to drive you crazy.

I think, as a gay man in society, we are not accepted yet... let alone a gay man with a kid.

If people are going to complain about stereotyping, it's as likely to be Italian-Americans as gay people.

My mother thought me being gay was a death sentence.

Part of the reason why I've never said that I was gay until now was because I didn't want that adjective assigned to my name for all of eternity. You know, gay Rosie O'Donnell.

I don't think anyone wants to be gay.

I think you could say L.A. has a bit of a cookie-cutter gay community.

Coming out was crucial to changing attitudes about gays and lesbians: will people feel differently about abortion if they know their mother, their aunt, or their friend had one?