Bayard Rustin

Black gay activists should try to build coalitions of people for the elimination of all injustice.

— Bayard Rustin

When you're wrong, you're wrong. But when you're right, you're wrong anyhow.

— Bayard Rustin

Every indifference to prejudice is suicide because, if I don’t fight all bigotry, bigotry itself will be strengthened and, sooner or later,…

— Bayard Rustin

I am an opponent of war and of war preparations and an opponent of universal military training and conscription; but entirely apart…

— Bayard Rustin

Martin Luther King, with whom I worked very closely, became very distressed when a number of the ministers working for him wanted…

— Bayard Rustin

If we desire a society of peace, then we cannot achieve such a society through violence. If we desire a society without…

— Bayard Rustin

The real radical is that person who has a vision of equality and is willing to do those things that will bring…

— Bayard Rustin

The only weapon we have is our bodies, and we need to tuck them in places so wheels don't turn

— Bayard Rustin

Bigotrys birthplace is the sinister back room of the mind where plots and schemes are hatched for the persecution and oppression of…

— Bayard Rustin

My activism did not spring from being black...The racial injustice that was present in this country during my youth was a challenge…

— Bayard Rustin

If we desire a society in which men are brothers, then we must act towards one another with brotherhood. If we can…

— Bayard Rustin

We are all one - and if we don't know it, we will learn it the hard way.

— Bayard Rustin

I believe there are certain types of movements which cannot be married.

— Bayard Rustin

Looking back at his career, Mr. Rustin, a Quaker, once wrote: ‘The principal factors which influenced my life are 1) nonviolent tactics;…

— Bayard Rustin

When an individual is protesting society's refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity…

— Bayard Rustin

We need, in every community, a group of angelic troublemakers.

— Bayard Rustin

Since Israel is a democratic state surrounded by essentially undemocratic states which have sworn her destruction, those interested in democracy everywhere must…

— Bayard Rustin

Let us be enraged about injustice, but let us not be destroyed by it.

— Bayard Rustin

When I say I love Eastland, it sounds preposterous a man who brutalizes people. But you love him or you wouldn't be…

— Bayard Rustin

If we want to do away with the injustice to gays it will not be done because we get rid of the…

— Bayard Rustin

God does not require us to achieve any of the good tasks that humanity must pursue. What God requires of us is…

— Bayard Rustin

People will never fight for your freedom if you have not given evidence that you are prepared to fight for it yourself.

— Bayard Rustin

“We need in every bay and community a group of angelic troublemakers.”

— Bayard Rustin

I would say except when I have been attacked the black community has seldom seen fit to even mention the gay aspect.…

— Bayard Rustin

The organizers and perpetuators of segregation are as much the enemy of America as any foreign invader.

— Bayard Rustin