Quotes About Acceptance

Just as the humble, unassuming, assenting 'O.K.' has deposed the more affirmative 'Yes,' so the little cringe and hesitation and approximation of 'like' are a help to young people who are struggling to negotiate the shoals and rapids of ethnic identity, the street, and general correctness.

I'm always thrilled when I get feedback from young people, particularly from 'The New Normal,' young gay people - when they say they want that when they grow up, that means a lot to me.

Pride is a time to celebrate what makes us unique and the more we let young people know that those things that make us different are actually our greatest strengths, the more comfortable we are in our own skin and the more peacefully we'll sleep at night.

It's important for young people to know that they are made the way they are made and they're beautiful and that's how they're supposed to be.

The fact is that young people are going to have sex whether you like it or not.

I would argue that we have a generation of young people, particularly minorities, who are no longer putting up with the kinds of things their parents put up with. They're much more self-confident. It's no longer acceptable to make fun of people because of race or sex. But it has always been present in American society.

I felt there needed to be a show for teenagers that didn't make them feel judged. 'Skins' never tried to preach. It allowed young people to make their own decisions about what to do and whether it was right or wrong. Young people really respond to that, and that's what sets 'Skins' apart.

Gay rights is just a matter of time. Look at the polls. Worrying about gay marriage, let alone gay civil unions or gay employment rights, is a middle-age issue. Young people just can't see the problem. At worst, gays are going to win this one just by waiting until the opposition dies off.

All young people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, need someone who's got their back.

The Trevor Project is committed to providing all young people, regardless of sexual identity, the opportunity to be heard and the encouragement to be themselves.

The emails and the tweets and the Facebook posts and the fan mail that we get from young people all over America that are on the football team or on the hockey team are so touching. They tell me, 'Hey, this is me. I still have to remain in the closet, but your role in '90210' makes me feel better the way being gay is being portrayed.'

When I was twelve or thirteen, if you liked something that was outside of your friend group genre, you had to rationalize and explain it in some way. It's totally irrelevant, I think, now. I don't think anybody cares. Not young people, at least. Maybe journalists.

There's so much bullying with young people and them feeling like they can't come out, and they don't know what to do. And it's something that you have to work through. And, you know, for me, it was - I came out, and then I went back in for a minute. And then I came out, and I was like, 'You know what? This is who I am.'

It's hard as a young person of a different ethnicity or background to look at the TV and not see anyone who looks like you. Representation is very important.

Every young person needs to have a character that they can identify with and feel included by.

I was so beat down as a young person - being black, being gay, being unable to assimilate because I could never, ever pull off being butch.

I think about a young person who is sitting at home, 13 or 14, a person of color, possibly questioning their sexuality, and watching Dr. Hugh Culber and saying, 'I'm a part of an ideal future that we could work towards.' We're planting seeds in the minds of young people to say, 'Your possibilities are limitless.'

My father passed away when I was pretty young. I was 7 years old, and I think when that happens, there are a variety of ways that a young person can react to that loss. I think, for me, it kind of put me in a perpetual state of feeling like something is wrong with me and like I didn't belong, or everybody else had things that I didn't have.

My weight was a huge issue as a young person. For my mother, for my father, and for my siblings... nobody in my family is overweight. And here I come.

I didn't believe when I was first told that I have cancer. I thought, 'How can a young person like me get cancer?' I thought it could never happen to me. It took me a while to realise that I was diagnosed with cancer.

As a young person, I wanted everyone to agree with me.

I want to make sure that any young person or anyone, really, who is looking up to me - who sees a glimpse of who I am as a person - that they see no shame, that they see pride, and that I'm truly unabashed about the person that I am.

For a young person who is perhaps thinking about coming out or is unsure of their sexuality - being called names is something that will mean that they won't want to go to school.

Nowhere have I felt so much awesome responsibility than when teaching my daughter that there is no wrong way to be herself - to be a young woman, whatever her size.