Karamo Brown

“By no means am I excusing homophobic rap lyrics, but as a product of the same environments that birthed hip-hop, I fully understand why those lyrics existed.”

“Historically, hip-hop is about a generation of artists rapping about the realities they see in their neighborhoods or the 'truths' they hear growing up in their homes.”

“My household runs the same way it was with my parents, who were a mother and father with their kids.”

“We live in a society that has a long history of not valuing people of color or women.”

“Unfortunately, a lot people still don't understand queer culture.”

“My goal has always been to help as many people as I can.”

“Literally, I look back on it now, and I often think to myself, 'Karamo you should have done better.' But that's the thing: when you're in that dark space, you can't do any better. And it's for people around you to say, 'You know what? I need to check in with you and be there to support you.'”

“The black community can be competitive and cautious when it comes to those we want put on display for the world to see and judge. We are a prideful people who believe that anything that will make us seem 'less than' should be hidden.”

“I can be walking down the street, and someone will stop me and ask me for one of my hugs. They feel like I'm their friend, which I love - though sometimes my kids get a little weirded out by it.”

“Point-blank, there is not enough diversity in media.”

“Any parent who says parenting came easily to them is not being honest with themselves. Parenting is hard.”

“It is important to remember that if we treat people who could be allies as enemies, we can only alienate them from our cause.”

“My main thing is obviously mental health and well-being, and then my second passion would be politics; the third would be fashion.”

“In our country, being from immigrant parents, growing up black in the South, coming out at 16 years old, being a teen parent... you would assume that my life would amount to nothing. And here I stand today. So, if I can do it... you can, too!”

“I've never done drag, but I'd love to try it.”

“When people hear my story, my hope is always that they start to believe that the life they want is possible for them, because I am living the life I've always dreamed.”

“I will kick my best friend out of the way if RuPaul wants to stand next to me as my best man.”

“Being an openly gay black man, unfortunately I've had experiences working with individuals who've tried to exploit my blackness or my gayness in a way that doesn't make me feel comfortable, or they try to manipulate me into being a caricature of myself.”

“What does culture mean? It's not a physical thing. I love a museum, but that, for me, doesn't make you a better person.”

“A lot of times, we look at people who have disabilities as, 'Oh, we can't invite these people here or there.' And I hate that, because it's inappropriate. It's so weird to me when people say they don't have friends who have disabilities.”