Elizabeth Taylor Said, ‘There Is No Gay Agenda. It’s a Human Agenda’

Elizabeth Taylor once said, “There is no gay agenda. It’s a human agenda. All of us should be treated the same […] long live love.”

Rating: True

Over several years, many on social media attributed a viral quote on gay rights to famed actor Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor reportedly said, “There is no gay agenda. It’s a human agenda. All of us should be treated the same … long live love.”

The post was shared on Pinterest, and X and has been reposted yearly around Pride Month, which takes place in June.

The above quote is real and is an abbreviated version of a speech Taylor made in 2000, when she received an award for her HIV/AIDS advocacy during the 1980s and long-time support of gay rights. The award was given to her by GLAAD, an LGBTQ rights organization. As such, we rate this claim as a “Correct Attribution.”

The full speech is available on GLAAD’s verified YouTube page, and the organization’s official social media accounts have shared snippets. Taylor began the speech by talking about her HIV/AIDS advocacy and how the relatively new disease led to rampant discrimination against gay people in the 1980s. “For god’s sake, our president [referring to Ronald Reagan] didn’t even utter the word “AIDS” for years into the epidemic,” she said. “So I got involved.” She also used her speech to advocate for legal rights for gay couples, including marriage and adoption.

The statement in question emerges at the 3:50 mark in the YouTube video (emphasis, ours):

All of my life I’ve spent a lot of time with gay men: Montgomery Clift, Jimmy Dean, Rock Hudson, who were my colleagues, coworkers, confidants, my closest friends. But I never thought of them [of] who they slept with. They were just the people I loved. I could never understand why they couldn’t be afforded the same rights and protections as the rest of us. There is no gay agenda. It’s a human agenda. All of us should be treated the same, and GLAAD knows that. Why shouldn’t gay people be allowed to marry? Those against gay marriages say marriage should only be between a man and a woman. God, I of all people know that doesn’t always work. I feel that any home where there is love, constitutes a family, and all families should have the same legal rights including the rights to marry and have, or adopt children.

She concluded her speech by saying “Long live love.”

The same section of the speech was shared by her verified Instagram account, run by House of Taylor, which oversees her archive and AIDS Foundation, and has ownership of her name and likeness. House of Taylor also released a Pride-themed T-shirt in June 2024, with Taylor’s quote printed on the back.

The House of Taylor wrote about her advocacy work on its website:

Already deeply saddened by the inhumane hardships she witnessed her friends – such as prominent actors Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Rock Hudson and Roddy McDowall, who she shared strong connections with from an early age – experience in the face of bigotry and at the hands of the vicious disease, Elizabeth’s fight against HIV/AIDS ramped up with the death of her dear friend Rock Hudson, who died from complications of AIDS in 1985. Devastated by the loss of her friend and colleague, and frustrated by the public’s dismissal of the disease, Elizabeth helped co-found The Foundation for AIDS Research that year – currently known as amfAR – which is still considered to be the world’s top organization for AIDS research today. She also successfully lobbied former president Ronald Reagan to address the crisis at a time when he, along with most of the American public, were turning a blind eye to the destitution inflicted by the disease as it affected a community of people they largely considered ‘less than.’ In 1986, Elizabeth testified before Congress to advocate for additional HIV/AIDS funding and research.

Elizabeth Taylor Dies At 79

Academy Award winning actress Elizabeth Taylor passed away at Los Angeles, Calif.’s Cedars-Sinai Hospital at the age of 79.

1932 2011

One of the most beautiful screen legends in her era, Elizabeth Taylor won double Oscars for starring in Butterfield 8 in 1960, opposite Eddie Fisher and for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf in 1966, alongside Richard Burton. In 1963, she memorably starred in “Cleopatra.” Taylor later in life became notorious for her seven marriages and sometimes eccentric behavior. Most people only have a memory of Elizabeth as a frail old woman being pushed around in a wheelchair but in her day she was one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood history.

CNN report:

Taylor died “peacefully today in Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles,” said a statement from her publicist. She was hospitalized six weeks ago with congestive heart failure, “a condition with which she had struggled for many years. Though she had recently s! uffered a number of complications, her condition had stabilized and it was hoped that she would be able to return home. Sadly, this was not to be.”
Though a two-time Oscar winner — for “Butterfield 8″ (1960) and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (1966) — Taylor was more celebrated for simply being Elizabeth Taylor: sexy, glamorous, tempestuous, fragile, always trailing courtiers, media and fans. She wasn’t above playing to that image — she had a fragrance called “White Diamonds” — or mocking it.
“I am a very committed wife,” she once said. “And I should be committed too — for being married so many times.”

Elizabeth Taylor, of course, starred in Cleopatra which made her the first Hollywood star to earn a $1 million salary. Beyond acting, Taylor is credited with bringing the world’s attention to AIDS with her fund-raising and activism. In 1985, when Taylor’s lifelong friend Rock Hudson died of AIDS, she brought national attention to the growing disease. It satisfying to her to use her celebrity for good – she raised and donated millions to the cause, founding the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.

Click image to enlarge

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond “Liz” Taylor, DBE (February 27, 1932 March 23, 2011) was an English-born American actress.

Beginning as a child star, as an adult she came to be known for her acting talent and beauty, and had a much publicised private life, including eight marriages and several near-death experiences. Taylor was considered one of the great actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age. The American F! ilm Inst itute named Taylor seventh on its Female Legends list.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR’S NUDE PHOTO RELEASED AFTER NEARLY 60 YEARS