I'm honestly not the kind of person who wants to step up to a podium, test the microphone and be like, 'Hey, I'm homosexual and this is who I am, hear me roar.' That's not who I am.
No, I am not a homosexual. If I were a homosexual, I would hope I would have the courage to say so. What's cruel is that you are forcing me to say I am not a homosexual. This means you are putting homosexuals down. I don't want to do that.
I am woman, hear me roar.
If you are not happy with something, you should change it. So I went to a lot of therapy, and finally, I am able to speak up for myself: You are going to hear me roar!
Honestly, if the public still wants to hear me in some works, I have to go down a half step.
Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar
I know exactly what that movie's [Brokeback mountain] about. I can't define it; it doesn't tie up in a perfect bow. But it's about adolescence. It's about what it feels like - this isn't meant as a criticism, but like things I didn't relate to, which were high school movies. Where I'd watch it and I'd be like, "Well, am I like the kid that nobody likes? Or am I like the person who everybody [likes]?" I couldn't [tell]. I was like quantifying, putting me in a box. "This is my personality at that age" and "I'm this kind of person" just felt like bullshit to me.
When I speak now, my experience in art wells up so articulately that I am surprised even while I am talking. I move around a podium as easily as if it were my living room and although I am keyed up I am not anxious. I feel as if I were doing what I should be doing - the feeling I have when intent in my studio.
I am not a special person, I am not especially strong; I am not especially gifted. I simply do not like to show my weakness, and I hate to lose, so I am a person who tries hard. That's all there is to me.
I am a woman, hear me roar," I said. Gosh, what prompted that?" Amelia asked, and I jumped
I am not the kind of person that wants to enforce my wants, likes, desires, on everybody else. I have no desire that everybody like what I like. I have no desire everybody say what I want to hear said. I have no desire everybody stop whatever they're doing and listen to what I have to say. I have no desire that everybody agree. No, that's not true. I do wish everybody agreed, but I'm not gonna sit around and force that on people.
For the record, I am not an admitted homosexual, nor am I a homosexual, though I do know the lyrics to every show tune ever written, which might perhaps account for the confusion.
Putting a label [homosexual] on myself was a big step forward...once I said, 'Yes, that's me, that's what I am,' I was able to work with it.
I, Binyavanga Wainaina, quite honestly swear I have known I am a homosexual since I was five.
I am the kind of person that wants to get up in front of crowds of strangers and perform monologues. To each their own.
When I grab the microphone, I am the greatest rapper, musician, and artist that ever lived, ever, in the entire universe - but when I put that microphone down, I am a man with so much to learn, personally and professionally.
I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.