‘Realistically this is not in our culture. Because our African sexual values are completely heterosexual, I personally have never seen people fancying it here.’

Ugandan Bishop Godfrey Makumbi

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‘There is also a need to acknowledge and promote the natural structure of marriage as the union of a man and a woman in the face of attempts to make it juridically equivalent to radically different types of union. Such attempts actually harm and help to destabilize marriage, obscuring its specific nature and its indispensable role in society.’

Pope Benedict XVI

‘If every person is unique—as the Pope’s representative said in Dublin last week—then why should that unique person not have the right to stand up for their own sexual orientation?’

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans

‘I think gay celebrities at least have the responsibility to come out. It can be tricky though. My very good pal, Anderson Cooper, finally came out publicly this year, and though it was hard for him as a journalist, I was so proud that he finally did it.’

Scissor Sister’s front man Jake Shears

‘Nobody sets out saying “OK I’m going to take an iconic picture”, for us it was meant to be a moment between the two of us, some people just had cameras and they thought it was significant for more than just the two of us.’

US Marine Captain Matthew Phelps commenting after a picture of him proposing to his partner at The White House went viral on the internet.