Black History Month 2025: inspirational quotes from LGBTQ icons about life, love and freedom
“I have been beaten, I have been thrown in jail, I have lost my job for gay liberation – revolution now!” – Marsha P. Johnson
“To deny birthright citizenship would derail this engine of American liberty,” said Barbara Jordan in 1975. The late politician, widely believed to be one of the first Black LGBTQ women to serve in the United States Congress, was celebrated during her time for cutting through political noise with truth.
To consider Jordan’s words 50 years later, at a time when the administration of US President Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to uphold its executive order ending birthright citizenship in the US, is to be reminded that progress sometimes moves forwards then backwards — and that also, we must never give up pushing.
Here, to mark Black History Month, we look back at inspiring public statements from Jordan and 16 more Black LGBTQ public figures past and present, from pacifist and civil rights activist Bayard Rustin to former Attitude cover stars Billy Porter and Laverne Cox.
Bayard Rustin, activist (died 1987)
”The principal factors which influenced my life are 1) nonviolent tactics; 2) constitutional means; 3) democratic procedures; 4) respect for human personality; 5) a belief that all people are one” – as quoted in the New York Times
Munroe Bergdorf, model and writer
“It’s really important that we understand that we are a global LGBT community. We can’t be thinking of ourselves as bound by borders, or nations or governments. We are people and we are all over the world. And until all of us are free, none of us are free. And that’s said so often, but I don’t really think that people necessarily think or feel it enough. When something happens over there, it is also happening over here, because we are all human. We are just on different rocks. That is all that’s different about that situation” – in an interview with Rolling Stone UK in 2023
Billy Porter, actor
“I will not shut up and sing. I will not shut up and dance. I will not shut up and act. I will never shut up. I don’t give a f**k what y’all think about me. Yes, I am a f****t. Yes, I suck d**k. Yes, I’m HIV positive. And I’m a human being on this planet. And you don’t get to take my rights away because of how I live my life” – in a 2021 interview with Attitude
James Baldwin, writer (died 1987)
“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” – as stated in Conversations With James Baldwin, a collection of interviews with Baldwin covering 1961-1987
Laverne Cox, actress
“I believe part of my job as an actress and as a public figure is educating people and creating critical consciousness so that hearts and minds can be changed – not only about gender issues, but also race, class, and the intersectional nature of all of those things. I’ve always wanted to believe that everyone can change, but I think recent world events suggest that some people are simply interested in power, that some are corrupt, and that they are not able to change. I think the entire administration needs to be impeached. With the line of succession, I know the alternatives may not help us much, but Trump has shown us who he is, and he’s got to go” – in a 2017 interview with Attitude
Ncuti Gatwa
“I feel like I’ve kind of reached a place in my personal journey where I just am who I am, and that doesn’t have to change wherever I go. I just have to exist. And it’s a privilege to do so in my position because there’s many people that are in my intersections that don’t get a chance to just exist. I think that’s the reason why I say that I struggle with hope sometimes, because there’s a lot of things protecting me from the experiences that I could be having, should be having and have had. And I’m aware of that. I’m aware that my experience is not the typical Black queer experience” – in a 2023 interview with Attitude
Marsha P. Johnson, activist (died 1992)
“I have been beaten, I have been thrown in jail, I have lost my job for gay liberation – revolution now!” – as heard in the trailer for Netflix documentary, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Skunk Anansie’s Skin, singer
“I think you should have a right wing. You should have opposites. You can’t expect everybody to be left wing, be the same. […] It’s bad if everything’s too left, and if it’s too right. But what I think is really bad is the extreme right. I don’t think the extreme left wing are that dangerous, if I’m honest. I think the extreme right have portrayed the extreme left wing in their image. What do the extreme left want? They want fucking Medicare for all, to peacefully demonstrate, for corporations to pay tax. They don’t want to kill anyone. The extreme right wing literally want black people to be slaves. They want to take the language of gay, queer and trans people out of the constitution. They want to repeal gay marriage. They also want to keep their guns and more people to have guns. They want Black people to be second class citizens and not have all the rights that we have now” – in 2020 interview with Attitude
Justin Fashanu, professional footballer (died 1998)
“People either employ me for what I can do on the soccer field or not. […] I don’t think it should affect whether he can play or not. I just felt I wanted to get all the past out. I wanted to be honest and truthful. Not only to myself, but to other people as well” – in a 1991 interview on Wogan
Barbara Jordan, political figure (died 1996)
“I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation and court decision I have finally been included in ‘We, the people'” – in her Watergate speech
Frank Ocean
“I share that philosophy with anybody who asks. For me, it’s about Why am I doing this? What exactly do I want from this? And how do I get those specific things I want out of this? And what does success look like on those terms? And what does failure look like on those terms? That’s how I think about it now” – in an interview with Gayletter