“Any parent who says parenting came easily to them is not being honest with themselves. Parenting is hard.”
― Karamo Brown
“What defines someone as a ‘man’ should not be the clothes they wear or how deep their voice is. It should be the content of his character, his strength in the face of overwhelming adversity, and his ability to still love and help others when the world has turned its back on him.”
― Karamo Brown
“Bangkok is one of those places where it’s so rich and full of tradition, but they’re so open to different people – different gender expressions and gender identities. As a gay man, I never once felt uncomfortable there. As a black man, I never once felt uncomfortable.”
― Karamo Brown
“Fatherhood is an honor, and men should be strong enough to step up to the plate.”
― Karamo Brown
“There’s so much toxic masculinity out there. I grew up with the notion that the more masculine you are and the less you show emotion, the more of a man you are.”
― Karamo Brown
“Most of the time, people are afraid of silence, and I’m not.”
― Karamo Brown
“I always encourage people to get out there, travel the world, see new things, experience new people, experience new food, experience new culture. What happens is that helps you to grow and be your best self.”
― Karamo Brown
“The funny thing is, we teach – as a culture, we teach people that it’s OK to talk about your fitness goals… Like, I want to be more physically fit, I want to drop 10 pounds, but no one’s talking about how I can spend 10 days to get happier.”
― Karamo Brown
“Homophobia, racism, and sexism are all rooted in the same oppression that causes a group of people to internalize the oppression they’ve experienced and then continue the cycle of abuse. Simply put, hurt people hurt people.”
― Karamo Brown
“Most people don’t remember the guy from ‘The Real World.’ They know the guy who is a professional, a father, and a friend that gives great advice.”
― Karamo Brown
“Most people have never been listened to, and they’ve never been asked questions that they want to be asked.”
― Karamo Brown
“Being vulnerable is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength.”
― Karamo Brown
“We have to continue to do the work, because we can’t see people lose their lives over senseless gun violence.”
― Karamo Brown
“We’re so divided as a world that we don’t often have the opportunity to sit down and talk to people who are different to us. We’re so ready to always be right that we sometimes forget it’s OK to listen.”
― Karamo Brown
“I can be walking down the street, and someone will stop me and ask me for one of my hugs. They feel like I’m their friend, which I love – though sometimes my kids get a little weirded out by it.”
― Karamo Brown
“It’s important to learn how to have conversations with other people where it’s not debating but discussing.”
― Karamo Brown
“Really, I think the extra layer of raising a son as a gay black man comes from trying to raise a son who doesn’t subscribe to masculine stereotypes.”
― Karamo Brown
“People always look at reality shows and think, ‘How do they fall in love so quickly?’ When you are quarantined with the same people, the emotions you normally feel after a year come within a week.”
― Karamo Brown
“Parents don’t even know what’s going on on Snapchat.”
― Karamo Brown
“So often, we take photos on our iPhone, and then they’re gone in a year, and we don’t even remember them. I like to experience life and disconnect from that.”
― Karamo Brown
“When people hear my story, my hope is always that they start to believe that the life they want is possible for them, because I am living the life I’ve always dreamed.”
― Karamo Brown
“I came out at 16 years old as a proud, gay man. My last girlfriend in high school – when I was 15 – became pregnant with my child but did not tell me.”
― Karamo Brown
“I would like to encourage hip hop artists to invite those of us who are in the queer spaces in, so we can have those conversations. I love hip hop. If you bring me in the studio, I know how to act. And we can talk about what’s not cool because, clearly, there’s still homophobia that penetrates in all these areas.”
― Karamo Brown
“We all are scared. First of all, as a culture, we’re constantly told that if you start to express yourself or express your needs, you’re needy. You’re too emotional. And they put all these negative connotations on it. That has started since we were kids, especially for men.”
― Karamo Brown
“My household runs the same way it was with my parents, who were a mother and father with their kids.”
― Karamo Brown
“I like walking into a home where each room has a slight scent that doesn’t overpower the room and doesn’t spread through the whole house.”
― Karamo Brown
“I will kick my best friend out of the way if RuPaul wants to stand next to me as my best man.”
― Karamo Brown
“Although someone’s vote may hurt me by supporting the structures in place that hold people of colour, women, and LGBT+ people down, some people just don’t realise that these structures exist. The way someone votes doesn’t make them a bad person; it just means that, at the time, this was the best decision they thought they could make.”
― Karamo Brown
“The worst thing about our political system is that people debate; I wish our politicians were able to talk to each other rather than scream while trying to gain sound bites.”
― Karamo Brown
“I have been a proud, openly gay man since I was 18.”
― Karamo Brown
“It’s been more than a decade since ‘The Real World: Philadelphia’ aired. I’ve grown up. My views have evolved, as has the media landscape.”
― Karamo Brown
“While the Internet has allowed for some extraordinary progress in creating conversations about diversity, it also allows uninformed comments that one has made in the past to live forever.”
― Karamo Brown
“It is important to remember that if we treat people who could be allies as enemies, we can only alienate them from our cause.”
― Karamo Brown
“In 2007, I discovered I was a father to a little boy who I did not know about. After being on MTV’s ‘The Real World’ and traveling the world, I was greeted by a stack of papers on my doorstep informing me that I had a child.”
― Karamo Brown
“We must be vigilant in sharing our stories and our truths as queer parents of color at every chance we get if we hope to see art imitate real life.”
― Karamo Brown
“We must do our part to make ourselves visible to the world. Let everyone see that being a queer parent of color is normal and happening right next door to them.”
― Karamo Brown
“Encourage your friend and family member who are queer parents of color to post their stories and share it with the world. It’s time for us to be seen.”
― Karamo Brown
“As one of the first African-Americans to be out on a reality program, MTV’s ‘The Real World: Philadelphia,’ I understand the courage it takes to live your truth on a national platform, the importance it holds to LGBT communities of color, and the power it has to create a greater conversation within American culture.”
― Karamo Brown
“The black community can be competitive and cautious when it comes to those we want put on display for the world to see and judge. We are a prideful people who believe that anything that will make us seem ‘less than’ should be hidden.”
― Karamo Brown
“The perpetuation of family and cultural pressures to conform to prescribed masculine behaviors is what creates social isolation and distress in many young gay and trans people of color.”
― Karamo Brown
“For many gay and bisexual men of color, economic inequalities add to the pernicious effects of oppression and homophobia.”
― Karamo Brown
“Southern black gay and bi men are suffering from a self-esteem issue.”
― Karamo Brown
“Life experiences with oppression and homophobia often become internalized and can have detrimental effects on the development of positive sexual identity for Southern black gay men.”
― Karamo Brown
“By no means am I excusing homophobic rap lyrics, but as a product of the same environments that birthed hip-hop, I fully understand why those lyrics existed.”
― Karamo Brown
“Historically, hip-hop is about a generation of artists rapping about the realities they see in their neighborhoods or the ‘truths’ they hear growing up in their homes.”
― Karamo Brown
“The marginalization of African-Americans within their own community based on sexuality is a construct that is more complex than the idea that ‘blacks just hate gays.’”
― Karamo Brown
“Gay men must be more effective caregivers to the women in their lives.”
― Karamo Brown
“Often, men forget to buy their grooming supplies.”
― Karamo Brown
“Yes, I would definitely let the ‘Queer Eye’ – I mean, cameras – follow me for my marriage.”
― Karamo Brown
“I’ve been on reality TV since I was 23.”
― Karamo Brown
“My life is an open book. There is nothing to hide here.”
― Karamo Brown
“I’ve never done drag, but I’d love to try it.”
― Karamo Brown
“A lot of times, we look at people who have disabilities as, ‘Oh, we can’t invite these people here or there.’ And I hate that, because it’s inappropriate. It’s so weird to me when people say they don’t have friends who have disabilities.”
― Karamo Brown
“I hate when I see someone who speaks English speaking to someone who speaks a different language, and they’re screaming as if going louder is going to help the other person understand.”
― Karamo Brown
“Even when you look at, like, movies with some of our famous celebrities, they don’t really cry and bring out their tears until, like, forced.”
― Karamo Brown
“Point-blank, there is not enough diversity in media.”
― Karamo Brown
“We, as communities that are marginalized, need to open up our minds and realize that we should be asking and advocating for more of everyone. Let’s get more gay black men; let’s get more trans women.”
― Karamo Brown
“Hollywood, at the bottom of it, is about money.”
― Karamo Brown
“We have to start making sure that churches start to talk about… black queerness in a way that’s affirming. Because a lot of young black men are in the church, and that’s where they start to learn this self-hate behavior.”
― Karamo Brown
“Literally, I look back on it now, and I often think to myself, ‘Karamo you should have done better.’ But that’s the thing: when you’re in that dark space, you can’t do any better. And it’s for people around you to say, ‘You know what? I need to check in with you and be there to support you.’”
― Karamo Brown
“I know a lot of people who are depressed, and they walk around, and they’re smiling every day, but no one’s asking them how they’re really doing.”
― Karamo Brown
“I was a social worker most of my life while raising my two boys.”
― Karamo Brown
“My favorite job, and definitely the one that means the most to me, is ‘Queer Eye.’”
― Karamo Brown
“I was 15 years old when I came out.”
― Karamo Brown
“We live in a society that has a long history of not valuing people of color or women.”
― Karamo Brown
“Celebrities have a platform, and people listen to them. And there’s a lot of people that we are able to touch, who aren’t watching activists and aren’t watching the news, that are watching what celebrities say.”
― Karamo Brown
“I want a big wedding.”
― Karamo Brown
“We’re trying to get the world to see it’s not always about the outside, it’s about the inside.”
― Karamo Brown
“My first job ever was, I got hired by Oprah Winfrey.”
― Karamo Brown
“I think that’s one of the greatest gifts that I have: that I can get someone to open up, and all you have to do is ask a question and not feel like you need a response.”
― Karamo Brown
“What does culture mean? It’s not a physical thing. I love a museum, but that, for me, doesn’t make you a better person.”
― Karamo Brown
“I own about 70 L.A. Dodgers snapbacks in different colors.”
― Karamo Brown
“Bomber jackets, for me, are the new blazers. They’re something I can wear with suit pants or slacks – or I can go really urban with it. I think, as men, we don’t have the little black dress that women do to go from day to nighttime, but the bomber can be the LBD for men.”
― Karamo Brown
“I hate chapped lips.”
― Karamo Brown
“My family is Jamaican and Cuban, but we would go to see our Jamaican side every summer for three months and every Christmas. One of the things I used to love was climbing trees and picking ackee fruit for breakfast.”
― Karamo Brown
“In our country, being from immigrant parents, growing up black in the South, coming out at 16 years old, being a teen parent… you would assume that my life would amount to nothing. And here I stand today. So, if I can do it… you can, too!”
― Karamo Brown
“There’s a lot of ‘how to adopt’ books, but there’s no practical resource for, say, school supplies.”
― Karamo Brown
“No matter if someone has personal feelings about my sexuality or how they view me, it’s all of our job to continue to show up in spaces where we can say, ‘You know what? I can figure out how to try to work with you.’”
― Karamo Brown
“I have such a deeper respect for firemen knowing how much they get paid and how much they put themselves on the line.”
― Karamo Brown
“Every show I’ve been on, my kids pay no attention. They’re just like, ‘Who cares. It’s just dad’s job.’”
― Karamo Brown
“Meghan Trainor is my female crush because she’s just fierce.”
― Karamo Brown
“My goal has always been to help as many people as I can.”
― Karamo Brown
“The challenges of me being a father are just the same as any other father.”
― Karamo Brown
“My background is in social work and psychotherapy.”
― Karamo Brown
“Unfortunately, a lot people still don’t understand queer culture.”
― Karamo Brown
“That’s the beauty of ‘Queer Eye’ coming back. No matter how far you think we’ve come as a society, there’s still work that needs to be done.”
― Karamo Brown
“I think it’s just so important that parents actually really study the apps on the phones and figure out what’s going on.”
― Karamo Brown
“When you break finances down in a way that kids can understand, it creates financial literacy that grows with them as they become adults.”
― Karamo Brown
“I always had an ability to listen and give people the space to open up and express themselves, and I was hoping it would translate on TV.”
― Karamo Brown
“My main thing is obviously mental health and well-being, and then my second passion would be politics; the third would be fashion.”
― Karamo Brown
“I was on MTV’s ‘Real World’ at the time when ‘Queer Eye’ came out. I remember, the first time I won an award, I got the award, and they were like, ‘It’s a tie! With ‘Queer Eye!” I never thought that I would one day follow in their footsteps.”
― Karamo Brown
“My father loved me and was devoted to me until he knew I was gay, and then our relationship went south. So I always make sure that I let my sons know that I will love them, no matter what they do or who they become, for the rest of their lives.”
― Karamo Brown
“Love is love, and people need to just accept that.”
― Karamo Brown
“Its rare to see a proud and out LGBT person win an Oscar in a lead or supporting actor role.”
― Karamo Brown
“I would say for our straight allies, your job is to listen and not judge. Then, listen and not act.”
― Karamo Brown
“I don’t like the term ‘coming out’ because it gives the power to the other person.”
― Karamo Brown
“I think dating apps are keeping us apart.”
― Karamo Brown
“My photo has nothing to do with the person I am, the dreams I have, the family I want to build, the family I’m from.”
― Karamo Brown
“Being an openly gay black man, unfortunately I’ve had experiences working with individuals who’ve tried to exploit my blackness or my gayness in a way that doesn’t make me feel comfortable, or they try to manipulate me into being a caricature of myself.”
― Karamo Brown
“Facebook Algorithms have got us all screwed up, where we only listen and talk to people with the same views as us, and I think it’s not helping us as a culture to grow.”
― Karamo Brown
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