Chirlane McCray
Labels put people in boxes, and those boxes are shaped like coffins.
I'd like to be out in the city every day, listening to what people are saying and asking about what they need. I'd like to inspire others by doing as much as I can to help people who are trying to make a better life for themselves and others.
If you ask the right questions, you learn a lot about people.
Some people are just quiet - they don't need to be talking all the time and aren't extroverted, but they're not necessarily afraid to talk. I'm not really a shy person.
Finding the right person can be so hard that often, when a person finally finds someone she or he is comfortable with, she or he just makes it work.
You can be chased home or hit or called names or spit on, and it's over. You have the memory of it, but it's very different from the emotional and psychological experience of feeling invisible, of not learning the confidence to stand up in class and speak.
I was a lifeguard, camp counselor, the president of the YMCA Leaders Corps. I also took piano lessons. I was a dancer.
I like to go to the subway and hear what people are thinking and feeling and what their concerns are. You learn so much that way. You really do.
I had never had a deep sense of belonging anywhere. I always felt I was an outsider.
A very tiny percentage of people with mental illness are also violent. We know this. The constant linking of the two together in national media is so misleading.
'Bad mother' is probably the worst thing you can say to any woman who has children.
It's tough to be a mother. At any age. It's tough. It's a lot of work.
I would consider running for office. But not for mayor.
Pay equity matters because those dollars add up over time.
It's really hard to get enough sleep, so I try to end my days by 9 P.M. so my husband and I have time to watch TV, chat, and then I like to read for at least half an hour before bed, but we have a lot of events, and there are places to go and people to talk to.
I wish I had more time to read.
Domestic violence is much more prevalent than people realize.
Symbols are important. It depends on how they're used.
I am more than just a label. Why are people so driven to labeling where we fall on the sexual spectrum?
I know my husband loves me fiercely and passionately. I know he supports me and will always stand up for me.
It took a long time for me to get into 'I'm taking care of kids,' and what that means.
Black women do not have as many positive images in the media as we should.
When you become first lady, it's like, 'O.K., now what do you do?'
Telling my story has not been easy for me. I've had to dredge up memories I would have rather forgotten. The lonely, anxiety-ridden months I avoided others, attempting to hide from interrogations about my social life.
My life was very compartmentalized. I went to a school that was all white, and then I went home and to my black family.
I came out at 17.
I'm a woman and a person of color; I know what it's like out there in the workplace.
I went to Wellesley College, and it was really hard for me to get a job after I graduated. I would go into places where I would not see any black people at all in Boston - like, zero. And then in publishing in New York City, it was pretty much the same. I knew that it wasn't about the value of my work.
We have to think about the state of women in a more holistic way going forward. We can't be segregated by class and race as we have been. Because even the women at the top can do something about violence against women, right?
Violence against women is a huge issue. A good feminist should be working on that - making the world a safer place for girls and women, wherever they live.
Government is not just about maintaining the status quo. It's about helping people's lives to work.
I have the advantage of many perspectives as someone who has lived in different kinds of communities: as a woman, as someone who previously identified as a lesbian, as someone who is a person of color. I've had a lot of life, so that informs what I do.
In the 1970s, I identified as a lesbian and wrote about it. In 1991, I met the love of my life, married him.Collection: Love Of My Life
I think that all women should consider running for office. What's happening now is just horrifying. With the people we have - with the person we have in the president's office, with so many of the people we have in Congress - we need more progressive women in office. At all levels. From city councils on up. We need women to run. I encourage women to runCollection: Running
When you look at the damage that many of the policies that Donald Trump has proposed can do to our citizens of the US - you can compare him to Major Storms Harvey, Irma, Maria. We're talking about life or death issues and about repealing the Affordable Care Act. There are lives at stake. Something that would affect millions and millions of people. I think it's totally appropriate. Obviously, it's a metaphor. It's not to be taken literally. But I mean that when I talk about the damage and the trauma that has been brought into our lives because of his presidency, that that's very real.Collection: Real
My husband is the mayor. He has a lot of advisors. He has many advisors. Trust me. I'm not always the last one to state my opinion to him. And he does not always take my opinion. I think it's totally fair for any - in any couple, we just assume that people are speaking to their spouse. This is no different. In this day and age, I think we're going to see more couples like us. You know, couples who work together. I'm a volunteer, but I take this work very seriously and I want to help my husband in any way I can.Collection: Couple
I'm married, I'm monogamous, but I'm not dead, and Bill isn't either.Collection: Bills