Luke

“Again, always, the fundamental question: are you protecting your children or are you sowing the seeds of what will prove to be a lifetime of mistrust?”
― Michael Cunningham, Day

“Here, then, is the answer. A degree of cruelty is necessary because Garth, like most men, can only deposit his needs at her feet, can only declare his love—that romantic hallucination, which would begin to fade as soon as she said yes—can only say, Here is my desire, here is my loneliness, what are you going to do about it?”
― Michael Cunningham, Day

“Many people do interpret "black men loving black men" solely in terms of a sexual, romantic affinity, and love. But what I meant was love in the sense of friendship, community, family, and fraternity, which was far more important, in nurturing me as a black gay man, than the love of a particular lover who is white. It's more important because for black people in this country it's difficult to exist, to flourish, to find sustenance and spiritual strength when you're totally surrounded by whites, or when the source of your support is solely from whites. There are things that white people can't understand, don't feel, and don't know no matter how much they love you.
(Marlon Riggs, in an interview with Ron Simmons)”
― Essex Hemphill, Brother to Brother: New Writing by Black Gay Men

“She wanted this. She wanted the marriage. She wanted the kids. She wanted the place in Brooklyn, refused to worry overmuch about the mortgage payments. She wanted the job, too. She was good at it. She strove. She outperformed others. The trick now, it seems, is to keep wanting it, the job as well as the marriage, motherhood, the stratospherically costly handbag. The trick is learning not to despise herself for her claustrophobia and disappointment”
― Michael Cunningham, Day