'I need a conservative candidate all the way who would say to a gay woman: 'You know what? I'm very sorry for your children. I think it's child abuse for you to raise children. And I don't mean to insult you personally, but this is a large cultural issue. The society is collapsing. Marriage is a fragile institution and I think you're making a mockery of it in this manner by doing this.' That would have been the proper answer.' — Radio personality Michael Savage on the June 7 edition of his syndicated show in response to Romney's remarks, according to Media Matters for America ( tinyurl.com/2tpd85 ) . 'The Savage Nation' is America's third-most-listened-to radio show.
'We've made progress from utter invisibility 30 years ago to prominence in the cultural scene, but with that prominence has come a more rampant form of homophobia. My hope is that we're close to the time that homophobia takes on the status of racism today -- normal, mainstream people don't accept it.' — Author Armistead Maupin to the Associated Press, June 11. Maupin's new book, Michael Tolliver Lives, is a sort-of sequel to the Tales of the City series.
' [ I ] t was only recently that he became too well known to have a profile posted on a gay cruising site. ( The administrators took it down, thinking it was fake. ) ' — From a New York Times profile of singer Rufus Wainwright, June 4.
'If they stay in the closet, they're going to make a lot more money. I go to the same gym as Anderson Cooper. When I look at him lifting those 5-pound weights, it makes me think, 'He's just trying to live his life and be all that he can be.' But he still goes to the gayest gym in New York.' — Singer Rufus Wainwright to Spin magazine, according to the New York Post, June 14.
'Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer, the screenwriting team that created [ the HBO series ] 'Big Love,' don't have a personal interest in Mormonism or polygamy, but they do know something about family lifestyles outside the American mainstream. That's because, offscreen, they're a gay couple celebrating the 16th year of their own monogamous relationship.' — The lead on a profile in the San Francisco Chronicle, June 10.
'Fundamentalists say they are all for taking Bible stories literally. Well, there is a long history of polygamy in the Jewish tradition and Bible tradition. Why do those people get to pick and choose which Bible readings they condone and which they don't?' — Will Scheffer, openly gay co-creator of the HBO series Big Love, to the San Francisco Chronicle, June 10. Scheffer and co-creator Mark V. Olsen have been in a monogamous relationship for 16 years.
'It's not a gay group. We were marketed and created for a wide range of audiences. The gay, Latin and Black audiences were very supportive at first. We took elements from every aspect of the '70s but we were immediately adopted by and proffered up as representatives of the gay community.' — Village People cowboy Randy Jones to the Sydney Star Observer, May 31.
'If you were gay or with gay people then perhaps you saw what we were doing as representative of being gay. If in any way we made people more comfortable around people who were homosexual, we did a service and in a small way pushed forward a little more tolerance in the wider community.' — Village People cowboy Randy Jones to the Sydney Star Observer, May 31.
'It's illegal in America [ to marry my partner of 23 years ] . We had an official ceremony three years ago, by an interfaith minister in a DJ booth at a discothéque in Greenwich Village. When it becomes legal in New York State, all we have to do is fill out the paperwork.' — Village People cowboy Randy Jones to the Sydney Star Observer, May 31.
'I have a sister who is gay. How can you stand by and watch a family member treated badly? How long do you think you can sit and watch that? Civil rights are a basic thing. My grandparents traveled across the water on some boat to find freedom—a fair shake for everybody. This is what we were raised to believe. Everybody is created equal. You can't exclude people. How can you do that? Once you started doing stuff like that, then who's next?' — Singer Cyndi Lauper explaining her involvement in gay activism to the gay magazine QVegas, June issue.
'Anyone who is a public figure or who is known as a celebrity, it's really not so difficult to get your groceries when you can live in an offbeat area and you can visit offbeat places that are just as great and just as fun. When you put yourself into the big parties and the big clubs, of course you're going to be getting more people coming up and talking to you, which is not always a horrible thing. But I don't find it that difficult to avoid.' — Actor and Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl to the gay magazine QVegas, June issue.
'My cousin died of AIDS; he was as queer as a three-dollar bill. He had that homosexual lifestyle and deserved what he got.' — Florida State Rep. D. Alan Hays, R-Umatilla, who is a retired dentist, during a meeting with AIDS activists in his Tallahassee office June 13, according to the activists. Hays has denied making the statement. He is vice chair of the House of Representatives' Health Quality Committee and a member of the House's Healthcare Council.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley