Quotes About Inclusion

I thought I was the only black Scottish person in the world.

I definitely felt growing up that I wasn't seen as the same as anyone around me because no one around me looked like me. There were no black Scottish role models.

I think American audiences are open to people with accents and different nationalities being on the screen.

I read the script, and I knew it was a good part. It was written for a white actor. That's what I'm up against - I have to try to make roles happen for me that aren't written black.

Lot of the scripts I've been in with other non-white actors haven't been great. Lot of non-white actors ain't all that great.

I was drawn to gay parts because of their scripts, what the roles offered.

My entire life, I've been searching for acceptance.

I had to work up the courage to even imagine myself running for Congress. But I eventually decided that our country had a moral problem in only letting white men - even the right-minded ones - have a seat at the table.

Everybody wants a seat at the table, but nobody wants to give up space.

As only the second Jewish person to lead a federal party with seats, I will say that antisemitism has no place in politics.

You don't want a second-class set of citizens inside the United States.

When I was on 'Doubt' on CBS, there was a 60-second scene, but in that 60 seconds, people were so affected because it was trans women in a very normalized situation.

For gay people, we learned about our lives in secrecy and a lot of fear.

I believe in secular politics.

So much of politics is about people's relationships with themselves. You do better if you make people feel secure in who they are.

When I was in elementary school, I watched 'Cinema Paradiso' 22 times and memorized the dialogue. In the movie, everyone had a place, even the bum who thought he owned the piazza. Eccentricities were celebrated, and no one was isolated.

For me, I never ever felt the ownership or any identity with any community of disabilities. I didn't grow up being told that I was a disabled child.

I think it's a bad business decision to exclude anybody from your restaurant - but, at the same time, I do believe in private ownership.

As people of color, it took a whole generation in many ways to get us out of the kitchen, and it's gonna take us the same whole generation to get us back into the kitchen and have ownership of restaurants, hotels and stuff like that.

The Rooney Rule is intended to give minorities an opportunity to sit down in front of ownership, but I think what it's turned into is an instance where guys are just checking the box. That's been the case. I've been on some interviews in the past where I've had that feeling.

My own fear, if I have one myself, is a fear of being obsolete. This is a world that changes very fast, and one of the main human desires is to belong to, to be part of, something. It's probably one of our greatest needs next to oxygen.

Every one, we, we homosexuals, are people, and we need our oxygen to breathe.

When you supervise something, it is one thing. When you are in the middle of something, there is a different pace of life.

Growing up, I was the only Indian kid around for miles, so I ached to belong. I had a neighborhood pack of nine guys and two girls, and we hung out all the time. We played football, baseball, and broom-hockey on the iced-up lake.