Every speech is a coming-out speech

By David Murray, Editor, Vital Speeches of the Day

Apropos of Jodie Foster’s enigmatic speech at the Golden Globe Awards this week, the ever-alert Dan Gerstein passes on a roundup of “10 Inspiring Coming Out Speeches,” the best of which for my money is San Francisco board of supervisors member Harvey Milk’s speech, delivered three weeks before his assassination in 1978:

Every gay person must come out. As difficult as it is, you must tell your immediate family. You must tell your relatives. You must tell your friends if indeed they are your friends. You must tell your neighbors. You must tell the people you work with. You must tell the people in the stores you shop in. And once they realize that we are indeed everywhere, every myth, every lie, every innuendo will be destroyed once and for all. And once you do, you will feel so much better.