The song “True Colors” is a gay anthem, and I'm sure you've seen it seen it covered several times. Has there been one specific performance that truly touched you?
A lot of times, a young performer is doing it and it's so heartfelt -- you feel like you're gonna cry with them. I think there's been a couple of those on these shows like America's Got Talent or The Voice, and you feel it because they feel it. I always think that a song with that type of sentiment should never be overdone. You don't need to give a song with a lot of sentiment more sentiment.
For me, I always felt like: Say it softly and learn the power of a whisper. I've heard people sing it like, [shouts] “Glory, glory, hallelujah!” Not my favorite stuff, but that's how they hear it and that's fine. It's a wonderful song, it's a healing song. However the heck you heal from a song is how you should approach it, you know?
Why do you think celebrating Pride is important?
Pride is really great because that's when we all get to celebrate our differences together. That's what always made it exciting, and everybody wears bright-colored clothing, and everybody's happy, and I love Pride for that reason. I'm very lucky. I’ve got to celebrate it with my sister and my mother and some dancing guys in Speedos dressed as firemen on a fire truck.
We talked about all the activism you've done. Has there been a specific moment that you can remember when it made it feel worth it?
When I went to Washington and worked with Senator [Susan] Collins and Senator [Jack] Reed. The fact that one was a Republican and one was a Democrat, it kind of made me feel like we could set aside our differences for a little bit.
I tried to dress like how I thought they dressed, which really in the end when I saw myself, I thought, “Oh my God, I look like Kyle's mother from South Park.” But I really tried to look conservative and speak clearly, you know, and listen and try and represent the best I could for people without a voice. If you’ve got a big mouth, you might as well use it for something good, like for people who have no voice.