I already knew ours wasn’t a land that celebrated differences. I knew it was best to keep mine hidden, so I didn’t need words to know that my mom wouldn’t want hers openly acknowledged either. It would take many years before we’d both learn that our differences demanded to be seen, understood, and perhaps even celebrated.
-- Dustin Lance Black (chapter 7)

Importance: This quote establishes Lance's childhood relationship to the theme of difference and his early understanding that difference is not embraced or accepted in his country. This quote summarizes how Lance and Anne both dealt with their differences given the kind of climate they were living in: they sought to either hide or ignore their differences. This quote also outlines the fact that both Lance and Anne will go on a journey throughout the rest of the book in which they reexamine their relationships to what makes them different and challenge...