"We hope we are moving toward a world where sexual orientation is not an issue, because we hate the idea of a gay ghetto. I think that it's a real shame that people become restricted by their sexuality or define their whole lives by their sexuality"
About this Quote
The subtext is a musician’s impatience with branding. Tennant is allergic to the way sexuality can become a press angle, a market niche, a pre-written narrative. “Restricted” and “define their whole lives” land as critiques of both external prejudice and internal expectation: the closet is one trap, but so is the mandate to be legible, exemplary, or permanently “out” in a way that turns private life into public identity work.
Context matters: coming out in the shadow of AIDS-era moral panic and tabloid culture meant being turned into a symbol whether you wanted it or not. Tennant’s line reads like a bid for ordinary complexity, the right to be gay without being reduced to Gay. It’s also a quiet warning: liberation isn’t just inclusion into mainstream institutions; it’s the ability to move through them without being sorted, monetized, or quarantined by category.
Quote Details
| Topic | Equality |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Tennant, Neil. (2026, January 17). We hope we are moving toward a world where sexual orientation is not an issue, because we hate the idea of a gay ghetto. I think that it's a real shame that people become restricted by their sexuality or define their whole lives by their sexuality. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-hope-we-are-moving-toward-a-world-where-sexual-82234/
Chicago Style
Tennant, Neil. "We hope we are moving toward a world where sexual orientation is not an issue, because we hate the idea of a gay ghetto. I think that it's a real shame that people become restricted by their sexuality or define their whole lives by their sexuality." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-hope-we-are-moving-toward-a-world-where-sexual-82234/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We hope we are moving toward a world where sexual orientation is not an issue, because we hate the idea of a gay ghetto. I think that it's a real shame that people become restricted by their sexuality or define their whole lives by their sexuality." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-hope-we-are-moving-toward-a-world-where-sexual-82234/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.



