“If our goal is to be tolerant of people who are different than we are, Chase, then we really are aiming quite low. Traffic jams are to be tolerated. People are to be celebrated.”

“When one is burying a dream, one might as well plant another dream.”

“It’s humbling, though, to think of all the stories that used to be, when they were at their best - before they were stories, when they were something previous, something infinitely more wonderful, brimming with potential, potent and inspired, and how they are diminished in the telling. That thing we imagine is out there cannot be captured on paper. The story is always something less than it was supposed to be, something less than when first glimpsed by the imagination.”

“I want my life to mean something!”

“Christianity void of sacrifice and commitment is only a religion without power.”

“I hear the word "tolerance" -- that some people are trying to teach people to be tolerant of gays. I'm not satisfied with that word. I am gay, and I am not seeking to be "tolerated." One tolerates a toothache, rush-hour traffic, an annoying neighbor with a cluttered yard. I am not a negative to be tolerated.”

“What's more, the kaleidoscopic blend of gender-variant and gender-typical traits that characterizes gay people is exactly what enables us to make our own unique contributions to society. It's the reason that we should be valued, celebrated, and welcomed into society rather than merely being tolerated. The aim should be to foster acceptance of gay people as we are, in all our rich diversity and not to seek acceptance by shoe-horning ourselves into conformity with the straight majority.”