Today is the anniversary of a landmark gay rights case – Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza – which clarified that gay people are to be treated equally in inheritance matters.
When his partner Hugh died, Juan Godin-Mendoza used human rights to stop his landlord evicting him from the home he had shared with Hugh for 18 years. Had Juan been a woman, he would automatically have inherited Hugh’s right to be in flat.
The UK House of Lords (now the Supreme Court) said that the law discriminated against gay couples. Because of the Human Rights Act, the judges interpreted the law to include gay couples.
To celebrate the anniversary of this important case and the upcoming Pride in London events this weekend, we’re bringing you some of the best quotes about equality in matters of love.
Now…To The Quotes!
1. Stephen Fry
The most important thing is love. It doesn’t matter in the slightest whether that love is for someone of your own sex or not… It must be understood that love comes first.
2. Tom Daley
My LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual) hero is anyone that is brave enough to be who they are, and embrace it, and be proud of it – because it’s people like that that are able to encourage other people to do the same.
3. Claire Balding
(On gay marriage becoming legal in the UK)
That one word ‘married’ is crucial because it defines our relationship. The way we see ourselves and the way we wish others to see us.
4. Prince William
I would say to any young person… who’s being bullied for their sexuality: don’t put up with it – speak to a trusted adult, a friend, a teacher, Childline, Diana Award or some other service and get the help you need. You should be proud of the person you are and you have nothing to be ashamed of.
5. David Cameron
The introduction of same-sex civil marriage says something about the sort of country we are. It says we are a country that will continue to honour its proud traditions of respect, tolerance and equal worth.
6. Rita Mae Brown
No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don’t love anybody.
7. Ricky Martin
The rights of homosexual people are human rights, and human rights are for everyone.
8. Epitaph of Leonard P. Matlovich, former U.S. Air Force sergeant
When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one.
9. Hillary Clinton
Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic minority, being LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.
10. U.S. President Barack Obama
When all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom they love, we are all more free.
11. Ernest Gaines
Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?
12. Justice Kennedy in landmark US gay marriage case Obergefell v Hodges
No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice, and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were. As some of the petitioners in these cases demonstrate, marriage embodies a love that may endure even past death. It would misunderstand these men and women to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves. Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization’s oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The US Constitution grants them that right.
13. Alex Sanchez
The pressures on gay teens can be overwhelming– to keep secrets, tell lies, deny who you are, and try to be who you’re not. Remember: you are special and worth being cared about, loved, and accepted just as you are. Never, ever let anyone convince you otherwise.
14. Ellen Degeneres
Whenever people act like gay images in the media will influence kids to be gay, I want to remind them that gay children grew up with only straight people on television.
15. Lord Nicholls in UK House of Lords case Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza
Discriminatory law undermines the rule of law because it is the antithesis of fairness. It brings the law into disrepute. It breeds resentment. It fosters an inequality of outlook which is demeaning alike to those unfairly benefited and those unfairly prejudiced.
- For more on equality, read our fabulous poster on no discrimination
- Our story of a real human rights case, Being Gay Is Not A Crime
- Read our 5 times human rights conquered homophobic laws
