Celebrate the 2017 Gay Pride Parade with these 24 LGBT quotes. Getty Images
UPDATE: Saturday, June 25 at 12:50 a.m. EDT: This story has been updated to include 24 quotes. Originally, there were 15 sayings from various celebrities and notable figures.
Millions of people are getting together in some of the largest cities in the United States all in the name of gay pride. To help commemorate the event, some of the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender sayings were shared below. Before readers take a glance at the quotes International Business Times compiled, we give a hat tip to Quote Garden, Buzzfeed and Quotesome.
"In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: The ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint or obligation." -- Simone de Beauvoir
"The Civil Rights Agenda and our team is behind you and is working our little butts off to make sure that Illinois is the next state that recognizes all of our families," said LGBT rights activist Rick Garcia at a rally in January 2013.
"What people do in their own homes is their business, and you can choose to love whoever you love." -- Jay
"Only the human mind invents categories and tries to force facts into separated pigeon-holes. The living world is a continuum in each and every one of its aspects. The sooner we learn this concerning sexual behavior the sooner we shall reach a sound understanding of the realities of sex." -- Alfred Kinsey
"I am a strong, black, lesbian woman. Every single time I say it, I feel so much better." -- Brittney Griner
"If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door." -- Harvey Milk
"What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it's curved like a road through mountains." -- Tennessee Williams, “A Streetcar Named Desire”
"Love is boundary-less. If you can make me feel, if you can make me laugh – and that's hard – then I can be with you. I don't care if you have a vagina or if you're a hermaphrodite or whatever." -- Angel Haze
"Being gay is natural. Hating gay is a lifestyle choice." -- John Fugelsang
"No i'm not gay/ No i'm not straight/ And i sure as hell am not bisexual dammit/ I am whoever I am when I am it/ Loving whoever you are when the stars shine/ And whoever you'll be when the sun rise" -- Andrea Gibson
"Marriage should be between a spouse and a spouse, not a gender and a gender." -- Hendrik Hertzberg
"Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it’s a good place to start." -- Jason Collins
"Understand that sexuality is as wide as the sea. Understand that your morality is not law. Understand that we are you. Understand that if we decide to have sex whether safe, safer, or unsafe, it is our decision, and you have no rights in our lovemaking." -- Derek Jarman
"When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.” -- former U.S. President Barack Obama
"The important thing is not the object of love, but the emotion itself." -- Gore Vidal
"Some people think I'm gay, which I think is awesome." -- Daniel Radcliffe
"If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge? We shouldn't marginalise people for this. They must be integrated into society." --Pope Francis
"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?" -- Ernest Gaines
"It always seemed to me a bit pointless to disapprove of homosexuality. It’s like disapproving of rain." -- Francis Maude
"I say that homosexuality is not just a form of sex, it’s a form of love, and it deserves our respect for that reason." -- Christopher Hitchens
"Some women can’t say the word ‘lesbian’ ... even when their mouth is full of one." -- Kate Clinton
"From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people." --Howard Dean
"Loads of my friends are lesbians, and it really annoys me that gay people aren't allowed to get married in most parts of America. I'd go on a march for gay rights any time." -- Pink
"I thought I would try to be gay for a while, but I'm just more sexually attracted to women. But I'm really glad that I found a few gay friends, because it totally saved me from becoming a monk or something." -- Kurt Cobain
