Neil G. Giuliano

CEO, San Francisco AIDS Foundation; former mayor of Tempe, Ariz.

When we promote and permit intolerance through bans on same-sex marriage, we enable and encourage feelings of marginalization, depression, and isolation among gay people. As a result, things like substance use, alcohol consumption, and sexual risk taking increase.

Dana Beyer

Executive Director, Gender Rights Maryland

National organizations that are structured more like campaigns, or that serve one particular community or cause, along with the legal organizations and the research organizations, have been increasingly effective relative to the multi-issue organizations. The question is why.

Aaron Ricciardi

Playwright, lyricist and actor

We live in a world where if one little thing rubs you the wrong way about someone you're dating, you can get on your device and shop for someone else. People are so busy running from person to person that no one's holding still long enough to see whether they actually like who's in front of them.

Rev. Dr. Katharine Rhodes Henderson

President, Auburn Theological Seminary

Now is the time to dispense with the classic stereotype that religious leaders oppose same-sex marriage. A growing multifaith movement of religious leaders is helping the faithful understand how religious teachings and text compel celebration of LGBT people and relationships, not rejection.

Linda Stratmann

Author

"The tower of ivory is assailed by the foul thing" wrote Oscar Wilde of his encounters with the Marquess of Queensberry, although later, in Reading Gaol, he feared that history would consign him to "the lowest mire," while judging Queensberry as "the hero of the hour."

A.J. Walkley

Author, 'Queer Greer' and 'Choice'

I recently had the pleasure to sit down with filmmaker Becca Roth as she heads to Kickstarter to make her LGBT-related documentary, One: A Story of Love and Equality, a reality.

Rev. Dr. Nancy Wilson

Global Leader, Metropolitan Community Churches

A "gay lobby" at the Vatican? My first reaction to the leaking of the words of Pope Francis was, "If this Vatican 'gay lobby' is supposed to be working for me and the LGBT movement, we ought to fire them immediately!"

Dr. Joe Wenke

Author, 'You Got to Be Kidding! The Cultural Arsonist’s Satirical Reading of the Bible'

What exactly is it about a human being's sexual orientation that triggers such hate? What's it to them -- the haters of gay, lesbian and bisexual people -- whom other people are sexually attracted to and love? Why are transgender people so hated, so marginalized?

Maurice Tracy

American studies doctoral candidate, Saint Louis University

I live in a world where I didn't hear someone romantically call me desirable until I was 26. I live in a world where either body privilege or racial privilege is always against me. So I point my camera at my face and I click. I am what some would call ugly, but I don't see it.

Mark Simpson

Father of the 'metrosexual' and 'retrosexual'; author, 'Male Impersonators,' 'Saint Morrissey' and 'Metrosexy'

Why do so many men shave their chests now? Because, as I told the skeptical Army doctor, it shows off muscle definition. That's to say: It shows off. Now that metrosexuality is pretty much "normal," young men think nothing of wanting to be sexy. To be hot.

Marianne T. Duddy-Burke

Executive Director, DignityUSA

While Catholics in general are supportive of LGBT people, the church is still perceived as unwelcoming. This seems to indicate that the church is so identified with the positions assumed by its leadership that the reality among "rank-and-file" Catholics is rendered meaningless.

John-Manuel Andriote

Journalist and author, 'Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America'

When we have new generations who didn't watch their friends die horrific deaths from AIDS now dismissing condom use as "political correctness," and serious writers claiming that "hedonism" is what drives reckless sexual behavior, it's time for a reality check.

Rev. Patrick S. Cheng, Ph.D.

Theologian, seminary professor and ordained minister; author, 'Radical Love' and 'Rainbow Theology'

As an openly-gay Chinese American minister, I will always remember my experiences of living, loving, and leading in the midst of my queer Asian siblings from around the world.

Judy Rickard

Author, 'Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law'

This tale of three flags is our nightmare. It made me take early retirement. It made us spend months apart, in different countries, until I quit my job years earlier than planned. My flag, my country, won't let me sponsor her flag, her citizenship, her gender, for U.S. immigration

Sunny Bjerk

Communications Manager, Housing Works Inc.

Cuomo's fight for women's equality cannot afford to overlook transgender women, who are especially vulnerable to violence, harassment, and discrimination in housing, employment, and health care. I hope that the Women's Equality Coalition will recognize the vulnerability of all women.

Matt Baume

Writer, online strategist and video producer, American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER)

Opponents of marriage equality claim that there are "negative consequences" to letting gay and lesbian couples marry. Marriage will deteriorate, they claim; fewer straight people will want to be a part of the institution. Well, that's a fine thing to claim, but the evidence just isn't there.

James Nichols

Brooklyn-based recent graduate

While the three men did not take questions at the June 11 press conference and only provided a brief statement, Josh Williams and Ben Collins are now offering their first interview following the event.