"We continue to be a passive population. It drives me nuts. It has always driven me nuts. I do not think the gay population has been all that rabid for gay marriage. Note that I do not use the words 'gay community.' Expunge that expression from your vocabulary. We are not a community. There are too many of us to qualify for that word, which connotes something much smaller and more intimate than the huge multipeopled grab bag of our rainbow coalition." — Activist, author and playwright Larry Kramer to The Daily Beast, April 10.
"Prop 8's passage ... revealed that our established organizations had lost touch with the grassroots. They had become too focused on institution-building and forgotten about movement-building. Prop 8 revealed that our major organizations had become disconnected from the rising tide of poverty and despair that engulfed our natural allies in communities of color. Prop 8 revealed the ugly racism just under the surface of our successful movement. Prop 8 revealed that our work reaching the hearts and minds of Californians is far from done. It shocked us. Many of us were living our lives in the false assurance that in most Californian eyes we were equal. We are not. Our work is not done. We need fresh leadership, new thinking." — Veteran activist Torie Osborn addressing Camp Courage San Diego, April 19.
"The hippie in me ( my family legacy, my parents were hippies ) bemoans the fact that we defeated the Iraqi military only to help them build an even stronger one that might one day be used against children and innocents, as often is the case. When will all the killing end? Where have all the flowers gone? And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and they shall study war no more. Alas, the Iraqis are studying war under our all-too-capable tutelage." — Gay U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., in an April 8 posting on his house.gov Web site.
"Nearly everyone who's ever played a reasonably significant role in my life, both past and present, has since found and reconnected with me, initially via email through the digital reach of this very column over the years, but now far more actively and vividly through my Facebook profile ( or, to a lesser extent, my Twitter feed ) . It's sort of stunning, really. Old girlfriends, lost loves, long-forgotten friends, high school sweethearts, band mates, roommates, old nemeses, lots of former cheerleaders turned born-again Christian megamoms, and everything in between. All those old connections, those lives and chapters and periods of my life I thought I'd left behind so cleanly, so decisively, way back when? Here they all are again, like a living scrapbook, constantly renewing and updating itself. What a thing." — San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford, April 29.
"The video mockeries produced in response to ( the National Organization for Marriage's ) hysterical, zombie propaganda poo have made this past week one of the most fabulous ever on the vast internets. Thank you, Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown for awakening and entertaining the movement for marriage equality ( with your 'Gathering Storm' anti-same-sex marriage ad ) . Because of your Night of the Living Storm Troopers silliness, the whole world is not only watching, it's having a good laugh at your expense." — Blogger Mike Tidmus, April 12.
"I'm not sure what the motivation would be ( for choosing to be gay, given that gay people face discrimination ) ." — Carrie Prejean, Miss California USA, to this column April 26 after she failed to win the Miss USA pageant because ( as she sees it ) she told the judges, when asked, that "marriage should be between a man and a woman."
"No one wants me to bottom. When they see my dick, they want to suck it." — Gay porn star and mogul Michael Lucas to the Village Voice's Michael Musto, April 21.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley