Nicolas Sarkozy (1955) 23rd President of the French Republic
Nicolas Sarkozy: Victory speech excerpts http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6631125.stm 6 May 2007
As quoted in Shadow in the Land : Homosexuality in America (1989) by William Dannemeyer, p. 148
Nicolas Sarkozy (1955) 23rd President of the French Republic
Nicolas Sarkozy: Victory speech excerpts http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6631125.stm 6 May 2007
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
Remarks by President Obama and President Kenyatta of Kenya in a Press Conference at Kenyan State House in Nairobi, Kenya https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/07/25/remarks-president-obama-and-president-kenyatta-kenya-press-conference (July 25, 2015) <br class="br">2015 <br class="br">Context: I believe in the principle of treating people equally under the law, and that they are deserving of equal protection under the law and that the state should not discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation. And I say that, recognizing that there may be people who have different religious or cultural beliefs. But the issue is how does the state operate relative to people. If you look at the history of countries around the world, when you start treating people differently -- not because of any harm they’re doing anybody, but because they’re different -- that’s the path whereby freedoms begin to erode and bad things happen. And when a government gets in the habit of treating people differently, those habits can spread. And as an African-American in the United States, I am painfully aware of the history of what happens when people are treated differently, under the law, and there were all sorts of rationalizations that were provided by the power structure for decades in the United States for segregation and Jim Crow and slavery, and they were wrong.
Barack Obama (1961) 44th President of the United States of America
2016, Remarks to the People of Cuba (March 2016)
Context: I believe that every person should be equal under the law. Every child deserves the dignity that comes with education, and health care and food on the table and a roof over their heads. I believe citizens should be free to speak their mind without fear to organize, and to criticize their government, and to protest peacefully, and that the rule of law should not include arbitrary detentions of people who exercise those rights. I believe that every person should have the freedom to practice their faith peacefully and publicly. And, yes, I believe voters should be able to choose their governments in free and democratic elections. Not everybody agrees with me on this. Not everybody agrees with the American people on this. But I believe those human rights are universal. I believe they are the rights of the American people, the Cuban people, and people around the world.
Kenan Evren (1917–2015) Turkish general
An Uneasy Honeymoon, Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,952783-2,00.html (Sep. 29, 1980) <br class="br">Said Evren in defense of the decision to take power after the 1980 military coup.
William H. Pryor Jr. (1962) American judge
Confirmation Hearing on the Nomination of William H. Pryor, Jr. to be Circuit Judge for the Eleventh Circuit (June 11, 2003)
George W. Bush (1946) 43rd President of the United States
2000s, 2003, Address to the National Endowment for Democracy (November 2003)
David Duke (1950) American White nationalist, white supremacist, writer, right-wing politician, and a former Republican Louisiana …
Podcast (25 August 2006) http://www.davidduke.com/mp3/dukeradio060825.mp3
Wesley Clark (1944) American general and former Democratic Party presidential candidate
Interview with Laura Knoy, New Hampshire Public Radio (5 November 2003)
Context: I don't have labels. I believe in human beings, I believe in a strong national security, I believe in maximizing freedom... I can give you a whole list of things i'm for, but I believe in solving problems. I guess, more than anything else, I'm a pragmatist with strong beliefs in people.
Coretta Scott King (1927–2006) American author, activist, and civil rights leader. Wife of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Chicago Sun Times (1 April 1998)