Pictured Bill Brochtrup. Photo by Rex Wockner
'There is a problem with the kind of gay men who are attracted to the priesthood and they have to sign off to an organization that claims that homosexuality is a disorder. These men are 'intrinsically morally disordered.' That is true. But not because they are gay, but because they are weirdos fucked in the head with all their self-loathing, their repression. I really wonder who is going to be left? Eventually they will have to ordain women.' — Gay writer Dan Savage to Cleveland's Gay People's Chronicle, Oct. 7.
'The whole voting-machine deal—I'm never going to believe an election again until something changes. It all just makes you paranoid.' — Openly gay actress Lily Tomlin to the Dallas Voice, Oct. 21.
'The right wing has got the media so tied up. We've got a little bit of a voice that's countering with Air America and a few things like that. But they got rid of Bill Moyers—they're turning PBS into a right-wing vehicle.' — Openly gay actress Lily Tomlin to the Dallas Voice, Oct. 21.
'I just finished writing a graphic memoir about my closeted gay dad and what it was like growing up with him. It's a huge project; I've been working on it for six years. It's over 200 pages and a whole big comic book about my childhood.' — Dykes To Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel to The Advocate, Nov. 8.
'We are seeing so many Roman Catholics joining the [ Anglican ] church. Pope Ratzinger may be the best thing that ever happened to the Episcopal Church. I find it so vile that they think they are going to end the child abuse scandal by throwing out homosexuals from seminaries. It is an act of violence that needs to be confronted.' — Openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire speaking at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London, Nov. 6.
'President Bush capitulated to the howling from the extreme, evangelical right and threw them red meat in the form of U.S. Circuit Court Judge Samuel Alito. The country will now be put through a wrenching, divisive and damaging [ Supreme Court ] confirmation process. One more travesty inflicted on this nation by the president and his right wing allies.' — National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman in an Oct. 31 statement.
'President Bush has nominated a socially conservative judicial activist to appease the socially conservative political activists who control the Republican Party and this White House. [ Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's ] judicial philosophy is often described by legal experts as ideologically conservative, and in the mold of Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. ... [ T ] he selection of Samuel Alito was approved this weekend by anti-gay activists at the request of the White House. Specifically, the Concerned Women for America, a radical anti-gay organization, was contacted on Saturday by the White House to solicit their approval for the nomination.' — The Stonewall Democrats in an Oct. 31 statement.
'For someone in entertainment, the big hurdle is when people start asking questions about it [ your sexual orientation ] . Nobody tells you in drama school how to deal with the press—you're fumbling in the dark a lot at first, and you end up looking to your publicist for advice sometimes. For the first couple of months, I just said I don't want to talk about my personal life. My agents and publicity people thought that was the best way to go, but it felt pretty silly before long. Remember this was 10 years ago, before Ellen—the atmosphere was pretty different than what we have going on right now. But my friends kept reminding me that I had an opportunity in front of me—they helped me realize that I wanted to be on the right side of history with this issue.' — Gay NYPD Blue actor Bill Brochtrup to Boston's Bay Windows, Sept. 29.
'I used to sleep with people if I felt sorry for them. I won't do that anymore. ... I slept with one man—well, we didn't sleep. We pulled our pants down. He was about 70 years old. And I got crabs from him. I thought, like, 'I hope somebody does me the same favor when I'm his age.' Without the crabs.' — Singer Andy Bell of Erasure to the Delaware gay magazine EXP, Oct. 13.
'Arnold Schwarzenegger is like some of those duplicitous Southern politicians who would say one thing and yet maintain segregation in the South. ... He's a dangerous politician, in the same way [ as ] Strom Thurmond or other politicians who say one thing in order to try to curry a broad base of support, and then when push comes to shove, they act in a segregationist way. ... When he first was mouthing the words he was mouthing I thought, 'Hmmm, alright, let's see.' And then this [ same-sex marriage ] bill was passed, which was landmark, and it hung on him. And he failed utterly. When you see things like that, you say, 'I can play a part in trying to change some of those constraints that we have to struggle with.' ... [ In ] order to be vocal on those issues, I think I need to address those issues as who I am.' — Actor George Takei, Sulu on the first Star Trek series, coming out in the L.A. gay magazine Frontiers, Nov. 8.
