Quotes About Rights

I do think that the success, although still not complete... in the recognition of equal rights... to all Americans, regardless of color, creed and so forth, was also one of the best stories we've had to report.

My image had always been very heterosexual, very straight. So it was a nice experience for me, a chance to clarify my own feelings about gay and lesbian civil rights.

I certainly believe that all of my friends should have the right, as Marc and I did, to marry their best friend. I certainly expect my straight friends to help us achieve that for all New Yorkers, for all Americans, and for the children that, at least, Marc and I hope to have someday.

Whether you're gay or straight, with a physical disability, your skin's a different color, it's absurd in this age to not be aware and be concerned of the inequity in rights.

No one in their right mind can say to me with a straight face that the Patriot Act has not aggregated the Fourth Amendment.

As straight Americans we have two choices: we can choose to sit back and enjoy our rights as we have them, or we can realize that it is actually not freedom at all when our friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues do not share these basic rights.

Seriously I just don't get why straight people are so afraid of the fact that gay people can get married.

I can't marry my way into citizenship like straight people can. I can get married in the state of New York where I live, but because of the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government, which hands out visas, won't recognize my marriage.

I like the idea of amending the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include a ban of discrimination based on sexual orientation. It would be simple. It would be straightforward.

With Brexit, and I think the extraordinary strain it's put on our constitution and our representative democracy, I do sometimes feel like I'm in the middle of the 17th Century, when you are standing up for the rights of Parliament.

You will only have copyright in a society that places a very high value on the individual, the individual intellect, the products of individual intellect.

Freedom, what crimes are committed in thy name.

Your Government would soon find itself regarded as a tyrannical junta which having got into office by violence was seeking to maintain itself by a denial of constitutional rights.

My personal safety does not count as a factor in the question of Ireland's rights. I thank no one for refraining from murdering me.

Don't confuse fairness with justice. Justice is about doing what is right. Fairness means everyone gets exactly the same thing.

If we believe in liberty, it must be freedom from both private and public coercion.

Indiana, where truth was no defense, and the First Amendment had no force of law.

Polygamy was common [amongst the Navajo], but women had superior property rights, owning sheep and the houses. A man who deserted his family would be destitute -- a powerful incentive to stay married.

The bottom line is that you only have the rights you fight for.

Martin Luther King, Jr., famously remarked that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." Learning is similar—

You only have the rights you fight for.

When deal-making, ask yourself: Can I trade a short-term, incremental gain for a potential longer-term, game-changing upside? Is there an element here that might be far more valuable in 5 to 10 years (e.g., ebook rights 10 years ago)?

Martin Luther King, Jr., famously remarked that "justice too long delayed is justice denied." Learning

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights. —BISHOP DESMOND TUTU, South African cleric and activist