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I injured myself politically when I took on Jesse Jackson' in the 1988 presidential campaign. I was too strident. I didn't recognize the emotional tie that he had with all black voters.

I was still closeted, but from the day I decided to run for office, knowing that I was gay, I decided that I would, of course, still be closeted but that I would work very hard for gay rights. It would be totally dishonorable, being gay, not to do that. So I had that as kind of a secondary agenda.

I didn't want to engage in a campaign where I was defending myself on those issues at every turn, so I just decided that I'd switch and run as a Republican.

I've been through so many different political races.

In every election homophobia has been part of the landscape and in every campaign I've been able to become connected enough to my constituents that they know who I am and that I can be elected on my merits.

I was political by coming out of the womb. I was gay, and I wanted to play tennis.

I ran for president in 1996.

The possibility of my presidential candidacy emerged spontaneously in public opinion polls. For my part, I noticed people's affection when I was doing work on the ground. I think the important thing is that my candidacy was born from citizens themselves, driven by the people and which the parties picked up favorably.

I came to the conclusion that in order to end racial barriers, I needed to run for the office of the president and put forth an agenda of social justice and world peace. In addition, I concluded that someone needed to run and challenge the liberal orthodoxy.