A Quote by Ian Mckellen

In the past, kids didn't tell their parents they were gay, so there were never the bust-ups. Some parents react so strongly to the news that their children are gay that the reaction is, 'Get out of our house.' There's a residue of old prejudices that are going to die hard.

Ian Mckellen

Quote Topics

Bust Children Die Die Hard Gay Get Going Hard House In The Past Kids Never News Old Our Out Parents Past Prejudices React Reaction Some Strongly Tell Ups Were

Quote Author

Ian Mckellen
English - Actor
Born: May 25, 1939

Something else was different when we were young: our parents were outdoors. I’m not saying they were joining health clubs and things of that sort, but they were out of the house, out on the porch, talking to neighbors. As far as physical fitness goes, today’s kids are the sorriest generation in the history of the United States. Their parents may be out jogging, but the kids just aren’t outside.

Richard Louv

Some parents were awful back then and are awful still. The process of raising you didn't turn them into grown-ups. Parents who were clearly imperfect can be helpful to you. As you were trying to grow up despite their fumbling efforts, you had to develop skills and tolerances other kids missed out on. Some of the strongest people I know grew up taking care of inept, invalid, or psychotic parents--but they know the parents weren't normal, healthy, or whole.

Frank Pittman

One time I was doing an interview for a gay magazine and halfway through the journalist found out I wasn't gay. He said, 'Sorry, I can't continue the interview.' Because they only had gay public figures in their magazine. I felt so crestfallen. I wanted to tell him: but I play fundraisers for gay marriage! I'd rather my kids were gay than straight!'

Moby

I used to shake my head when I heard about mothers who were shocked - shocked! - when their kids came out. I didn't understand how they had missed seeing something so essential when looking at their children. But too many parents see only what they want to see, and that's true whether our kids are gay or straight.

Suzanne Brockmann

I have to object to this notion that children form their sexuality and their sexual identity from their parents. The truth is that scientists, biologists, we don't know how sexuality is formed in people. And to suggest that people are going to be gay if they're raised by gay parents is just scientifically unfounded.

Margaret Hoover

I get DMs all the time: kids who don't know how to come out to their parents, parents who don't know how to deal with their kids who are gay. I try to give the best advice I can.

Big Freedia

The ball scene was never really only gay people. I think people have this notion that if there's a man hanging around a gay man, he must be gay, but that's just stigma. Back in the day, it was the same; there were lots of different people there: gay, straight, whatever. They did not care what they were called because they knew who they were.

Mj Rodriguez

In the earliest years of the AIDS crisis, there were many gay men who were unable to come out about the fact that their lovers were ill, A, and then dead, B. They were unable to get access to the hospital to see their lover, unable to call their parents and say, 'I have just lost the love of my life.'

Judith Butler

Think about reading: Today, parents would love it if their kids read books more because the parents understand the books. Just over 100 years ago, parents were upset because their kids were reading dime-store novels. Parents would say, "I don't want you inside reading anymore. Get outside and play." I guarantee you, in 50 years or so, parents are going to say, "You're not going outside to play until you finish that video game."

Paul Saffo

I wanted to be on my own and get out of the house. We were the kind of kids that - we - obeyed our parents. If they said no, you don't ask why.

Janet Jackson

Actually, 'Die Hard' was the first movie I ever saw in the theater. When I was a newborn, my parents were going stir-crazy in the house, and they put me in the bassinet, and I slept through 'Die Hard' in the theater as an infant.

Haley Joel Osment

My dad was a homicide cop in the gay neighborhood in the city when gay neighborhoods were desperate, depressing, sad places run by the mob. The only gay people he'd met when I came out to him were corpses.

Dan Savage

There's something pure about our bloodline: There are no accidental kids of gay parents. Every single gay parent desperately, passionately wanted to be a parent. That's neat, and I hope we can keep it that way.

B. D. Wong

"Let's say we discover the gene that says the kid's gonna be gay. How many parents, if they knew before the kid was gonna be born, [that he] was gonna be gay, they would take the pregnancy to term? Well, you don't know but let's say half of them said, "Oh, no, I don't wanna do that to a kid." [Then the] gay community finds out about this. The gay community would do the fastest 180 and become pro-life faster than anybody you've ever seen. ... They'd be so against abortion if it was discovered that you could abort what you knew were gonna be gay babies."

Rush Limbaugh

It's too bad you're not gay. Then again, if you were gay, I would never date you. You're a mess." You know, Patrick? If I were gay, I'd want to date you." Of course.