This month is LGBTQ+ Pride Month, a time to celebrate the progress that has been made by and for the LGBTQ community, while also recognizing that there is still much work to be done.
As we reflect on the progress that has been made, it is important to remember the voices of those who have fought for equality before us.
In honor of LGBTQ Pride Month, here are some of the best quotes from famous LGBTQ advocates and allies:
Don't forget to check out our articles about how to thoughtfully celebrate Pride Month, the top LGBTQ+ influencers doing good, and all of our LGBTQ+ good news stories.
Inspirational LGBTQ+ Quotes for Pride Month and Beyond
Popular LGBTQ+ Pride Quotes
“We deserve to experience love fully, equally, without shame, and without compromise.”
— Elliot Page
“We are powerful because we have survived.”
— Audre Lorde
“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.”
— Audre Lorde
“You have to go the way your blood beats. If you don’t live the only life you have, you won’t live some other life, you won’t live any life at all.”
— James Baldwin
“We are not what other people say we are. We are who we know ourselves to be, and we are what we love. That’s okay.”
— Laverne Cox
On Coming Out
“Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it's a good place to start.”
— Jason Collins
“I can't give someone a playbook on how to come out, but I can help create a safe space for others to be heard and feel loved—just like the one my mom provided for me. I know who I am. I've lived in this body for the last 27 years, and I'm very confident in the power that I hold.”
— Mauree Turner
“I am not gay, but if I were, I would be the first one running out of the closet.”
— Dolly Parton
“Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.”
— Brené Brown
Supportive LGBTQ+ Quotes
“Being born gay, Black, and female is not a revolutionary act. Being proud to be a gay, Black female is.”
— Lena Waithe
“Everybody’s journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality.”
— James Baldwin
“I am a strong, black, lesbian woman. Every single time I say it, I feel so much better.”
— Brittney Griner
“The more I accept myself as a genderless human being, in a way, the more I’m loving my body.”
— Sam Smith
“I don’t love just men. I love people. It’s not about a gender. It’s just about the spirit that exudes from that other person you’re with.”
— Kesha
“I'm very fluid, and I think love is love. You can find it in any gender.”
— Demi Lovato
“I’m nonbinary, so I just don’t see myself as a woman, solely. I feel all of my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than the ‘he’ or the ‘she.’ If I am from God, I am everything. I am everything, but I will always, always stand with women. I will always stand with Black women. But I just see everything beyond the binary.”
— Janelle Monáe
“So let me be clear: I'm proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.”
— Tim Cook
“To be yourself is truly a revolutionary act, and I think more and more people should try it, because it’s gotten me a pretty cool life.”
— Lena Waithe
“Maybe we can stop trying so hard to understand the gorgeous mystery of sexuality. Instead, we can just listen to ourselves and each other with curiosity and love, and without fear. We can just let people be who they are and we can believe that the freer each person is, the better we all are.”
— Glennon Doyle
For Youth
“There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s a lot wrong with the world you live in.”
— Chris Colfer
“I think it's important for parents to educate themselves, too, and be open, and realizing that your children are their own person and if they may or may not act the way you want them to in terms of gender expression that that's OK.”
— Laverne Cox
“No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.”
— Alice Walker
On Rights & Taking Action
“Every gay and lesbian person who has been lucky enough to survive the turmoil of growing up is a survivor. Survivors always have an obligation to those who will face the same challenges.”
— Bob Paris
“The more I’ve been able to learn about gay rights and equal pay and gender equity and racial inequality, the more that it all intersects. You can’t really pick it apart. It’s all intertwined.”
— Megan Rapinoe
“We have to do it because we can no longer stay invisible. We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are.”
— Sylvia Rivera, on LGBTQ+ activism
“People in this country who are in positions of privilege must learn to find ways of fighting for the just treatment of others, not by centering and platforming themselves, but by holding up the ones who are suffering.”
— Brandi Carlile
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From Marsha P. Johnson
“We have to be visible. We should not be ashamed of who we are.”
— Marsha P. Johnson
“History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable, it happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.”
— Marsha P. Johnson
“You never completely have your rights, one person, until you all have your rights.”
— Marsha P. Johnson
“Darling, I want my gay rights now!”
— Marsha P. Johnson
You might also like: The Best Marsha P. Johnson Quotes
From Harvey Milk
“All young people, regardless of sexual orientation or identity, deserve a safe and supportive environment in which to achieve their full potential.”
— Harvey Milk
“Once you have dialogue starting, you know you can break down prejudice.”
— Harvey Milk
“If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door.”
— Harvey Milk
“Rights are won only by those who make their voices heard.”
— Harvey Milk
“Freedom is too enormous to be slipped under a closet door.”
— Harvey Milk
“If you are not personally free to be yourself in that most important of all human activities — the expression of love — then life itself loses its meaning.”
— Harvey Milk
“I was born of heterosexual parents. I was taught by heterosexual teachers in a fiercely heterosexual society. Television ads and newspaper ads — fiercely heterosexual. A society that puts down homosexuality. And why am I a homosexual if I’m affected by role models? I should have been a heterosexual. And no offense meant, but if teachers are going to affect you as role models, there’d be a lot of nuns running around the streets today.”
— Harvey Milk
You might also like: The Best Harvey Milk Quotes
From Coretta Scott King
“I believe all Americans who believe in freedom, tolerance, and human rights have a responsibility to oppose bigotry and prejudice based on sexual orientation.”
— Coretta Scott King
“I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people.”
— Coretta Scott King
“I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people and I should stick to the issue of racial justice. But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’”
— Coretta Scott King
You might also like: The Best Coretta Scott King Quotes
From Politicians
“All of us who are openly gay are living and writing the history of our movement. We are no more — and no less — heroic than the suffragists and abolitionists of the 19th century; and the labor organizers, Freedom Riders, Stonewall demonstrators, and environmentalists of the 20th century.”
— Tammy Baldwin
“For a lot of my life, I was judged for my gender representation or my sexual orientation, or what people assumed of me; and every single time my goal has been to combat that and show my greatness.”
— Taylor Small
“I once worried that there was no place for trans people like me to participate in any way in our politics. Since coming out, though, I've seen that change is possible and I've learned that the only things that are truly impossible are the things we don't try. You can run, you can win and you can serve.”
— Sarah McBride
“When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.”
— Barack Obama
“When we look back at the Stonewall uprising and activism that grew out of that moment, even the most basic progress seemed like it would take a revolution to achieve. So we had one. And that’s how we’ve made such enormous progress over the last 50 years. Today, we should remain inspired by the courage of the story of Stonewall.”
— Tammy Baldwin
You might also like: The Best Humanitarian Quotes From Humanitarians
More Short Pride Quotes
“Equality means more than passing laws. The struggle is really won in the hearts and minds of the community, where it really counts.”
— Barbara Gittings
“I've had to go against all kinds of people through the years just to be myself. I think everybody should be allowed to be who they are, and to love who they love.”
— Dolly Parton
“This community has fought and continues to fight a war of acceptance, a war of tolerance and the most relentless bravery. You are the definition of courage, do you know that?”
— Lady Gaga, to the LGBTQ+ community
“There’s no right or wrong way to be gay. No right or wrong way to come out. It’s your journey, do it the way you wanna do it.”
— Tan France
“The reason the rainbow flag endures is because people own it. It means something to them.”
— Gilbert Baker
“Pride is important because tonight someone still believes they're better off dead than being themselves.”
— Sterling Graves
