List of Bayard Rustin Quotes

I Believe There Are Certain Types Of Movements Which Cannot Be Married.

Conscription For War Is Inconsistent With Freedom Of Conscience, Which Is Not Merely The Right To Believe But To Act On The Degree Of Truth That One Receives, To Follow A Vocation Which Is God-inspired And God-directed.

If Anyone Thinks They're Going To Get Anything Out Of The Reagan Administration For Any Particular Group, They're Wrong! You Have To All Combine And Fight A Head-on Battle - In The Name Of Justice And Equality - And Even That's Going To Be Difficult. But If We Let Ourselves Get Separated So That We're Working For Gays Or School Children Or The Aged, We're In Trouble.

Martin Luther King, With Whom I Worked Very Closely, Became Very Distressed When A Number Of The Ministers Working For Him Wanted Him To Dismiss Me From His Staff Because Of My Homosexuality.

I Would Say Except When I Have Been Attacked The Black Community Has Seldom Seen Fit To Even Mention The Gay Aspect. And Since When I Have Been Attacked I Have Usually Been Defended By The Black Community, I Would Say That The Black Newspapers Have Played It Very Straight. If I Was Attacked They Simply Published That I Was Attacked, If I Was Defended They Simply Said I Had Been Defended. But I Don't Think They Have Taken Any Effort At Maligning Me Or Maligning Gays Or Making Any Effort To Give To People Anything That Wasn't News.

I Am An Opponent Of War And Of War Preparations And An Opponent Of Universal Military Training And Conscription; But Entirely Apart From That Issue, I Hold That Segregation In Any Part Of The Body Politic Is An Act Of Slavery And An Act Of War.

Since Israel Is A Democratic State Surrounded By Essentially Undemocratic States Which Have Sworn Her Destruction, Those Interested In Democracy Everywhere Must Support Israel's Existence.

I Am A Quaker. And As Everyone Knows, Quakers, For 300 Years, Have, On Conscientious Ground, Been Against Participating In War. I Was Sentenced To Three Years In Federal Prison Because I Could Not Religiously And Conscientiously Accept Killing My Fellow Man.

The Journey Of Reconciliation Was Organized Not Only To Devise Techniques For Eliminating Jim Crow In Travel, But Also As A Training Ground For Similar Peaceful Projects Against Discrimination In Such Major Areas As Employment And In The Armed Services.

Twenty-five, 30 Years Ago, The Barometer Of Human Rights In The United States Were Black People. That Is No Longer True. The Barometer For Judging The Character Of People In Regard To Human Rights Is Now Those Who Consider Themselves Gay, Homosexual, Lesbian.

My Activism Did Not Spring From My Being Gay, Or, For That Matter, From My Being Black. Rather, It Is Rooted Fundamentally In My Quaker Upbringing And The Values That Were Instilled In Me By My Grandparents Who Reared Me.

Looking Back At His Career, Mr. Rustin, A Quaker, Once Wrote: ‘the Principal Factors Which Influenced My Life Are 1) Nonviolent Tactics; 2) Constitutional Means; 3) Democratic Procedures; 4) Respect For Human Personality; 5) A Belief That All People Are One.’