News

15 Quotes About Equality Of Love To Brighten Up Your Day

By Hayley Chapman, Writer 21 Jun 2016
LGBTQ+

Today is the anniversary of a landmark gay rights case – Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza – which clarified that gay people are to be treated equally in inheritance matters.

When his partner Hugh died, Juan Godin-Mendoza used human rights to stop his landlord evicting him from the home he had shared with Hugh for 18 years. Had Juan been a woman, he would automatically have inherited Hugh’s right to be in flat.

The UK House of Lords (now the Supreme Court) said that the law discriminated against gay couples. Because of the Human Rights Act, the judges interpreted the law to include gay couples.

To celebrate the anniversary of this important case and the upcoming Pride in London events this weekend, we’re bringing you some of the best quotes about equality in matters of love.

Now…To The Quotes!

1. Stephen Fry

fry

The most important thing is love. It doesn’t matter in the slightest whether that love is for someone of your own sex or not… It must be understood that love comes first.

2. Tom Daley

daley

My LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual) hero is anyone that is brave enough to be who they are, and embrace it, and be proud of it – because it’s people like that that are able to encourage other people to do the same.

3. Claire Balding

CB

(On gay marriage becoming legal in the UK)

That one word ‘married’ is crucial because it defines our relationship. The way we see ourselves and the way we wish others to see us.

4. Prince William

Prince_William_at_Ham_Polo_Club

I would say to any young person… who’s being bullied for their sexuality: don’t put up with it – speak to a trusted adult, a friend, a teacher, Childline, Diana Award or some other service and get the help you need. You should be proud of the person you are and you have nothing to be ashamed of.

5. David Cameron

Prime Minister David Cameron,

The introduction of same-sex civil marriage says something about the sort of country we are. It says we are a country that will continue to honour its proud traditions of respect, tolerance and equal worth.

6. Rita Mae Brown

Af0sF2OS5S5gatqrKzVP_Silhoutte

No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don’t love anybody.

7. Ricky Martin

Ricky_Martin_in_store_appearance,_Sydney_Australia_(2)

The rights of homosexual people are human rights, and human rights are for everyone.

8. Epitaph of Leonard P. Matlovich, former U.S. Air Force sergeant

941px-Matlovich.Leonard.gravesite.with.wreath

When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.

9. Hillary Clinton

459271450_0ccb8679a1_b

Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.

10. U.S. President Barack Obama

obama-356133_960_720

When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.

11. Ernest Gaines

gun

Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?

12. Justice Kennedy in landmark US gay marriage case Obergefell v Hodges

Anthony_Kennedy_official_SCOTUS_portrait_crop

No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The US Constitution grants them that right.

13. Alex Sanchez

love

The pressures on gay teens can be overwhelming– to keep secrets, tell lies, deny who you are, and try to be who you’re not. Remember: you are special and worth being cared about, loved, and accepted just as you are. Never, ever let anyone convince you otherwise.

14. Ellen Degeneres

3371640116_7c51ba7a28_b

Whenever people act like gay images in the media will influence kids to be gay, I want to remind them that gay children grew up with only straight people on television.

15. Lord Nicholls in UK House of Lords case Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza

juan

Discriminatory law undermines the rule of law because it is the antithesis of fairness. It brings the law into disrepute. It breeds resentment. It fosters an inequality of outlook which is demeaning alike to those unfairly benefited and those unfairly prejudiced.

First image ©A J Lopp, used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License. Stephen Fry image © IAB UK used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic Licence. Tom Daley image © Megan Trace used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic Licence. Claire Balding image © Charles Roffey, used under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Licence. Ricky Martin image © Eva Rinaldi, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License. Prince William image © Billpolo, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Ellen de Generes image © ronpaulrevolt2008, used under Attribution 2.0 Generic License. Image of Hilary Clinton © Marc Nozell, used under Creative Commons  Attribution 2.0 Generic License.

About The Author

Hayley Chapman Writer

Hayley is a Legal Fellow at International Justice Mission, the world's largest anti-slavery charity, where she works specifically on cases of cybersex trafficking of children. Before joining IJM Hayley worked at Leigh Day in the Personal Injury department, and volunteered with the human rights charity Reprieve. Hayley holds a BA in History from Cambridge University and studied law as a Cohen scholar at BPP University and a Lord Brougham scholar at Lincoln's Inn.

Hayley is a Legal Fellow at International Justice Mission, the world's largest anti-slavery charity, where she works specifically on cases of cybersex trafficking of children. Before joining IJM Hayley worked at Leigh Day in the Personal Injury department, and volunteered with the human rights charity Reprieve. Hayley holds a BA in History from Cambridge University and studied law as a Cohen scholar at BPP University and a Lord Brougham scholar at Lincoln's Inn.