"Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizen of this country"
About this Quote
The specific intent is pressure with polish. “Our society needs to recognize” casts the problem as collective denial, not legal complexity. It scolds gently while recruiting the listener into a more enlightened “we.” The phrase “unequivocal civil equality” is doing heavy lifting: unequivocal signals zero carve-outs, no “separate but equal,” no half-rights packaged as compromise. It’s also a preemptive rebuttal to the common hedges of the era: religious exemptions, bathroom panics, and the rhetorical move that treats LGBT rights as negotiable special treatment.
Subtextually, Quinto is leveraging his platform as a publicly gay mainstream star to normalize the cause through steadiness rather than spectacle. Even the word choice “citizen of this country” anchors identity in belonging, pushing back on the insinuation that queer and trans lives sit outside the national “us.” The dated “transgendered” hints at a moment when public language was still catching up, underscoring the quote’s larger point: culture evolves, and the lagging institutions are being told to keep up.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Quinto, Zachary. (n.d.). Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizen of this country. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/our-society-needs-to-recognize-the-unstoppable-160031/
Chicago Style
Quinto, Zachary. "Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizen of this country." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/our-society-needs-to-recognize-the-unstoppable-160031/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Our society needs to recognize the unstoppable momentum toward unequivocal civil equality for every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizen of this country." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/our-society-needs-to-recognize-the-unstoppable-160031/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.




