Gay rights are not primarily marriage rights, and for the millions who live in unaccepting places with no resources, dignity remains elusive. I am lucky to have forged meaning and built identity, but that's still a rare privilege. And gay people deserve more, collectively, than the crumbs of justice.
I'm a gay rights supporter. I'm a human-rights campaign initiative person.
I am not as knowledgeable about the struggle for gay rights, for our history, the way some of my castmates or other gay men I know are.
I'm not a gay rights activist.
I was still closeted, but from the day I decided to run for office, knowing that I was gay, I decided that I would, of course, still be closeted but that I would work very hard for gay rights. It would be totally dishonorable, being gay, not to do that. So I had that as kind of a secondary agenda.
I filed the first gay rights bill in Massachusetts history in 1972 in the legislature, one of the first in the country.
If you ask me about my views on the environment, on women's rights, on gay rights, I am liberal. I don't have a problem with that at all. Some of my best friends are liberal.
When you start talking about abortion and gay rights, people take that seriously and they're passionate about it - on both sides.
One thing the gay rights movement taught the world is the importance of being visible.
Really, when it comes to gay rights, there's two wars going on. The first war is political. But the culture war is over.
