Quote of the Day

Once I'd realized women were not simply empty wombs, other dominoes began to fall.  If saying "all women can't do something" was reductive, for example, how could I feel that abortion was definitely evil?  I wanted to call up the Pope and say, "I'm young, and I'm pretty sure I'm not a genius, but this makes no sense and I can't be smarter than all you priests by this much."  Either the Church's prescriptive views were being defined and presented by people who knew they were a lie, or they didn't know they were lying -- and I couldn't figure out which was more terrifying.  I felt like I was on the other side of some wide chasm, looking back and wondering, What is everyone doing back there?

-- Cameron Esposito, Save Yourself, p. 77-78

Quote of the Day

It broke my heart, seeing the Church the way it really is.  As an abuser.  As darkness.  As a bulldozer that decimates and has decimated communities, cultures, and countries for the duration of its existence.  Yes, Catholics can do good in the world.  There are priests and nuns and schools and groups of people doing solid work for the poor or the sick who belong to that faith.  I was trying to be one of those people.  Until I wasn't.

-- Cameron Esposito, Save Yourself, p. 76

Quote of the Day

I still carry shame over not being the woman culture expects me to be.  Just last week, I got called a dyke while walking down my own street by one of my neighbors -- and not as a friendly greeting between dykes.  My reaction, after wanting to punch the dude in the nose, was to feel bad about myself.  So I'm the one that's embarrassed?  Even though he's a jerk, and I know where he lives?  But yes, I was embarrassed about my Hawaiian shirt and jean jacket.  How am I ever supposed to heal or feel safe?  Well, for one, by telling someone about it.

-- Cameron Esposito, Save Yourself, p. 20

Quote of the Day

[When I was a kid] I didn't have the language to say, "It seems you're noticing that my gender presents differently from what you're used to.  That's partly because it's the mid-'80s and we don't have a ton of opportunities to see many different types of people, especially in an upper-middle-class white suburban neighborhood like ours.  Boy, will the internet blow all of our minds a decade from now!  Anyway, many of us gender-nonconforming folks exist in the world, have for centuries, and it's actually totally fine -- in fact, it's great!  There's nothing wrong with me or you, and coming to understand my own gender expression will be one of the most freeing experiences I'll have in my next two decades on this planet.  I wish the same to you!"

-- Cameron Esposito, Save Yourself, p. 19-20

Quote of the Day

Why are Little Gay Kids so creative?  Probably because we are working hard to make sense of our own identities.  We know there is something different about us but can't figure out what it might be.  We often don't have the language or space to ponder our sexualities or gender presentations.  So we feel like outsiders or bystanders or both.

-- Cameron Esposito, Save Yourself, p. 14

Quote of the Day

They are lucky that what black people are looking for is equality and not revenge.

-- Kimberly L. Jones

Quote of the Day

The hardest thing about really seeing and really hearing is when you really have to do something about what you have seen and heard.

-- Frederick Buechner

Quote of the Day

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

-- Article [1] (Amendment 1 - Freedom of Expression and Religion), The Constitution of the United States

Quote of the Day

Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quote of the Day

And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Quote of the Day

But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard.  And what is it that America has failed to hear?  It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years.  It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met.  And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity.  And so in a real sense our nation's summers of riots are caused by our nation's winters of delay.

-- Martin Luther King, Jr.