Quotes About Diversity

I am the only Republican Congressman who represents a borough within New York City, a city of 8.5 million people.

I've worked in the gay clubs in Moscow, and the big cities. They're much more tolerant. It's the small cities where you get the prejudice. Kind of like America. Here in New York City, or San Francisco, it's great. But, like, in Tennessee or down South, it gets harder. It's that situation. But it was really bad in Russia because of law enforcing.

Nashville is only a couple of hours from New York, and people just move at a slower pace there - and they don't care who you are or what you do.

Most of the women placed in the fire department here in New York never passed the physical test. And a fat guy or a short guy, or anybody not passing the test in a life-or-death job, leads to friction.

Some of us claim that New York City is the capital of the country, indeed the capital of the world. Now, that may be a bit much for those who don't come from New York, but clearly we are an important city for reasons of our cultural advantages.

I went through the immigration thing. But when I got to New York it wasn't so tough for me. I went to school. I went to P.S. 57, then I went to the Lighthouse for the Blind on 59th St. I guess being blind is a great leveler.

When I first started out, being from the South and going to New York or Chicago, people kept telling me to get voice lessons and 'lose that stupid accent you got.' And I'm like, 'Well, where I come from, you have the stupid accent.'

I mostly get noticed in shopping malls, airports, red states. The Cheesecake Factory. I am more likely to get stopped in San Antonio or Oakland than in New York or L.A.

I think New York is a really wonderful place to raise a child. There's so much available, and so much diversity and culture, lots of things to see and do. My whole family is here.

I had gone to New York with no plan at all. I did a lot of jobs - barman, teacher, security guard, postman and construction worker - and I was meeting many eccentric characters, and they were saying funny things, which I always wrote down.

Living in New York City, you have to keep trying to do a lot of things.

I miss the energy of New York City and being able to step out of my apartment and see so much unique culture all the time around me without having to seek it out. In L.A., I have to sort of seek out everything I'm trying to do. It makes it less spontaneous.

I don't have to really be in the 60s. Every time I hail a cab in New York, and they pass me by and pick up the white person, then I get a dose of it. Or when they don't want to take you to Harlem. I grew up with that.

Musically, New York is a big influence on me. Walk down the street for five minutes and you'll hear homeless punk rockers, people playing Caribbean music and reggae, sacred Islamic music and Latino music, so many different types of music.

In New York, you couldn't wish for a nicer audience, or in L.A., Chicago, Boston. But when you get into secondary markets, they don't have a clue.

My stepmother Angela is an Italian from New York City. I based Rhoda on her and a Jewish friend named Penny Ann Green. People often said that Rhoda seemed to be Italian. That was the Angela seeping through.

The four places I've called home in my life have been Lahore, London, New York and California. And I have a very strong tie to each one of those four places.

When I first arrived in Los Angeles from New York in 2004 to try to break into television, I couldn't believe how segregated it was - how many neighborhoods were nearly all-white or all-black or -Asian or -Latino.

What's more important than who's going to be the first black manager is who's going to be the first black sports editor of the New York Times.

I think New York is truly unique in its singular combination of the quality of both the talent it attracts and the ingredients it grows. There are plenty of other places in the world with wonderful natural resources, but the people who come here to pursue their passions for food and cooking - they are one of a kind.

In some communities it is - like, for me, coming out with my parents, they were not accepting; they were not understanding. So it depends. For kids in New York and L.A., maybe it's different, but for kids in Iowa, for kids in Tennessee, it's still something that's not really talked about.

I have taught students from the New York City area so long I have a special affinity and rapport with them. It surprises me sometimes that there are students from anywhere else.

When we started on 'Power,' I was committed to respecting the differences among Spanish dialects: Dominican, Nuyorican, Mexican, etc. I wanted the language our characters spoke to be as specific as possible, to reflect New York as it is.

When Mom visits me in New York she hangs out with me and all my friends anyway. We go out to the gay bars together.