"I wore a woman's antique fur jacket to my high school junior prom."

"David Bowie and Boy George created a safely contained theatrical expression of gay style."

"My reasons for declaring a sexual preference had to do less with the pursuit of personal freedom than with the lust for pure shock value."

"I am now faced with mortality. Definitely not the most generous move."

"Perhaps there is no agony worse than the tedium I experienced waiting for Something to Happen."

"My gayness became quietly accepted and, shock of all shocks, life went on."

"It was a pleasure to be a gay eyesore."

"Coming out involves varying degrees of difficulty that are affected by class, race, religion, and geography."

"Sexuality is a private matter; some believe that broadcasting it destroys the very things that make it sacred."

"Proclaiming a sexual preference is something that straight men never really have to bother with."

"As anyone who is gay will confirm, being that way is not something you become, it is a set of emotional and physical responses that just are."

"If there is a gay uniform, the differences are in how each man coordinates the details: the brand and cut of the jeans, the design of belts and boots, the haircut, the number and size of earrings."

"Coming out is a means of redefining oneself, of claiming membership in a lifestyle and a social order with distinct values. Chief among these values is honesty."

"When you've grown sick of reading and bug-eyed from watching TV, when your friends are all visited out, no words can adequately praise the link to the outside world provided by your parents and family."

"Gay culture is surviving and thriving. Some activists believe the recent rise in homophobic violence might be a gauge of the success of positive gay images."

"One result of An American Family was that I became a gay role model."

"As I was coming out of the closet, our car was hurtling over an embankment."