7 Terrifying Quotes That Have Us Determined to Make Things Better

From Russia to Africa and Tehran to Texas, one need not look far to find evidence that there is still plenty of severe antigay sentiment to make LGBT people feel unsafe. But instead of feeling defeated, we hope you see these words as galvanizing; a reason to find out what you can do to combat homophobia and kick butt in 2015.

Seven
"...And this teacher, [redacted], doesn't only demonstrate her personal life, but she also puts up photos of sodomy on the internet, for everyone to see. [Redacted] shows up at school with lesbian attributes: rings on her big fingers and pinky fingers, other specific jewelry, dressed like a man, cutting her hair short, which can be a bad example for the behavior of children."

- Excerpt of a letter written by Timur Isayev (a.k.a., Timur Bulatov) to school and government officials that was also posted on VKontakte or "VK," Russia's version of Facebook. Isayev claims responsibility for getting 29 LGBT teachers fired. He was arrested last month for embezzlement.

Six
"I will come. I will come and kill you. When all [demonstration] is over and you're on your way home, I will catch one of you and will smash your head."

- A post on VK threatening the life of Andrey Nasonov for his daring to announce that he would join an LGBT rights protest outside of Moscow. The post was detailed in a landmark report by Human Rights Watch released in late 2014.

Five
"The sponsors define 'non-traditional sexual relations' as 'sodomy, lesbianism and other forms of non-traditional sexual behavior. They justify the amendments as necessary 'to safeguard and protect the traditional family, human, moral, and historical values of Kyrgyz society.'"

- Human Rights Watch warning that a more draconian law modeled on Russia's so-called Anti-homosexuality Propaganda Act may be coming to Kyrgyzstan.

Four
"Our emancipation means standing up for strong families, our emancipation means standing against the homosexuality agenda, emancipation for us means standing up against the repealing of the buggery law."

- Alvin Bailey, a man described as the chairman of a rally in Kingston demanding Jamaica's Parliament retain the country's antigay, colonial era "buggery" law. Bailey addressed the crowd of about 25,000 in June of last year.

Three
"If ever they find us, they're going to kill us,"

- A 20-year-old Gambian lesbian to BuzzFeed during a recent phone interview she gave from Senegal after escaping there, amid raids that ensnared the three people in Gambia. Her comments are made all the more chilling in light of a promise made by the west African nation's homophobic president back in May:

"If I catch them, I will kill them."
- Gambian President Yahya Jammeh speaking about LGBT Gambians seeking asylum elsewhere during a May speech in a town outside of the capital of Banjul.

Two
"Who is gonna teach your children? It's gonna be maybe a gay, maybe a drug dealer, maybe a pedophile. You know? So it's very important for you to protect your children from these animals, from these dirty people. ... Allah says that they are the worst of creatures. You prefer to live among the worst of creatures than live among the mujaheddin ... make your decision."

- An unidentified man speaking on behalf of the self-proclaimed Islamic State in a recruitment video. I.S. began posting videos of executions of gay men late in 2014.

One
"If the right to select 'partners of their choosing' is the criterion used to invoke marriage as a fundamental right, then marriage restrictions on age, polygamy, and consanguinity are also ripe for challenge."

- Members of The Texas Conservative Coalition legislative caucus, which includes the state's lieutenant governor and attorney general, in a brief arguing for retention of the state's ban on marriage equality.