As a singer, I've been criticized for sounding feminine. They say I don't belong in any category, male or female, pop or jazz. But early on, I saw my suffering as my salvation.

There were times, I could say, later in the career, that I wished that my voice would be deeper for materials that I might've wanted to select to do. But that's the style of my voice. There's nothing I can do about the height of my voice. And so I learned to deal with it.

There's times, in certain songs, that I might be in my own world, and who cares about who's out there, you know? You have a job to do, so you do that job of singing that song or telling that story because that's what you're doing.

As long as I could sing my songs, I wasn't as angry about what had happened, about being shoved back for this or shoved back for the other.

Marriage has made me safer.

I grew up with a very romantic, idealized vision of New York, probably because of all the books I read and the movies I watched.

Marriage is no longer the main way in which societies regulate sexuality and parenting or organize the division of labor between men and women.

I feel strongly for gay marriage to be accepted.