Judge Garrett: In this courtroom, Mr.Miller, justice is blind to matters of race, creed, color, religion, and sexual orientation.
Joe Miller: With all due respect, your honor, we don't live in this courtroom, do we?
Joe Miller: Have you ever felt discriminated against at Wyatt Wheeler?
Anthea Burton: Well, yes.
Joe Miller: In what way?
Anthea Burton: Well, Mr. Wheeler's secretary, Lydia, said that Mr. Wheeler had a problem with my earrings.
Joe Miller: Really?
Anthea Burton:
Apparently Mr. Wheeler felt that they were too..."Ethnic" is the word she used. And she told me that he said that he would like it if I wore something a little less garish, a little smaller, and more "American."
Joe Miller: What'd you say?
Anthea Burton: I said my earrings are American. They're African-American.
Joe Miller: What do you love about the law, Andrew?
Andrew Beckett: [from the witness stand] I... many things... uh... uh... What I love the most about the law?
Joe Miller: Yeah.
Andrew Beckett: It's that every now and again - not often, but occasionally - you get to be a part of justice being done. That
really is quite a thrill when that happens.
Joe Miller: [sitting on opposite sides of the table in the library, reading to each other from their text books] The Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 prohibits discrimination against otherwise qualified handicapped persons who are able to perform the duties required by their employment. Although the ruling did not address the specific issue of HIV and AIDS
discrimination...
Andrew Beckett: Subsequent decisions have held that AIDS is protected as a handicap under law, not only because of the physical limitations it imposes, but because the prejudice surrounding AIDS exacts a social death which precede... which precedes the actual physical one.
Joe Miller: This is the essence of discrimination:
formulating opinions about others not based on their individual merits, but rather on their membership in a group with assumed characteristics.
Joe Miller: [while being interviewed by reporters] We're standing here in Philadelphia, the, uh, city of brotherly love, the birthplace of freedom, where the, uh, founding fathers authored the Declaration of Independence, and I don't recall that glorious document saying anything about all straight men are created equal. I believe it says all men are created equal.
Joe Miller: [to Jamey Collins on the witness stand] are you gay?
Jamey Collins: [confused] what?
Joe Miller: [gradually raising his voice] are you gay?, You know a faggot?, A, a punk, a fruit, a queen, a fairy a booby snatcher, rump roaster, pillow biter, ARE YOU GAY?
Bud Beckett: [to Andrew, during a family gathering, celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary for his parents] Uh, Andy, the way, the way that you handled this whole thing - uh, you and Miguel with, with so much courage - I don't believe there's anything that, that anyone could say that could make us feel anything but... incredibly proud of you.
Sarah
Beckett: Well, I didn't raise my kids to sit in the back of the bus. You get in there and you fight for your rights, okay?
Andrew Beckett: Gee, I love you guys.
Joe Miller: [part of his opening statement to the jury] Forget everything you've seen on television and in the movies.