'I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, nor do I have any intention of seeing it. ... I'm a very susceptible person, easily influenced, a natural-born follower with no sales-resistance. [ W ] ho's to say I won't become enamored with the whole gay business? ... I just know if I saw that movie, the voice inside my head that delights in torturing me would have a field day. 'You like those cowboys, don't you? They're kind of cute. Go ahead, admit it, they're cute. You can't fool me, gay man. Go ahead, stop fighting it. You're gay! You're gay!' Not that there's anything wrong with it.' — Actor Larry David from the HBO TV series Curb Your Enthusiasm, writing in The New York Times, Jan. 1.
'We have met several times trying to figure out how to keep the doors open. The base of our support has always been in the community itself, we've never had a lot of corporate support, [ and ] many of our heavy donors are scattered around the country. Many we haven't been able to talk to. We don't even know where they went. Also, it's hard to ask people for money when they don't even have a house. At a time when there are a lot of people in our community desperately needing help and desperately needing community, the center needs to be up and running and operating. But we can't keep the doors open without insurance and rent and utilities.' — Randal Beach, co-chair of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center of New Orleans, to this column, Dec. 18. Donations can be sent to LGCCNO, 2114 Decatur St., New Orleans, LA 70116.
'We're ready for the FEMA people to go away. In fact, we'll help them pack. They've sucked up all the rooms in the hotels. We don't know what they're doing. We need our tourists to come and visit and stay in the hotels that they can't get into because the FEMA people are occupying them. Basically, we're occupied by the federal government right now. We need them to go away. [ And ] tell all of our [ gay ] people it's time to come home. We're ready for you.' — Eric Evans, manager of the New Orleans gay bar Rawhide 2010, to this column, Dec. 18.
'If we look at the ... HIV vaccine, we're going to have an HIV vaccine. It's not going to be made by a [ drug ] company. They're dropping out like flies because there's no real incentive for them to do it. We [ the government ] have to do it. [ If ] it works, they [ the drug companies ] won't have to make that big investment. And they can make it and sell it and make a profit.' — National Institutes of Health AIDS research division head Dr. Edmund Tramont as quoted by the Associated Press, Dec. 26.
'I'm going to be the envy of every female impersonator in the country.' — Carol Burnett, as quoted in Out magazine, on her Bob Macky-designed wardrobe for Once Upon a Mattress on ABC.
'Make no mistake about it, had we not put up the fight we put up with the judicial nominations all along, you would have more conservative people on the Supreme Court.' — Sen. Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York and a member of the Judiciary Committee, as quoted in The New York Times during the nomination hearings for Judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. Republicans have often cited the 78 votes to confirm Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. last year as evidence that President Bush's judicial picks are in the mainstream, The Times article stated.
'The same radical right that claims to be looking out for people of color is working against issues of importance to us. They hope to dismantle affirmative action, multicultural curriculums and implement English-only laws. Most people of color, gay and straight, have always known that the radical right is no friend of ours.' — Mandy Carter, longtime grassroots activist.
'Most of America's greatest heroes never make it out of the shadows. Martin Luther King Jr. certainly was not one of them. But as we celebrate one of our greatest American heroes this weekend, we should follow Dr. King's own vision by not looking toward the spotlight but toward the ordinary. It's not the people making headlines who will have the greatest affect on our freedom, but the people in our own backyards who can shape the future. Take Dr. King himself, a man who found peace in conflict through conversations with his friends and family. While many of us now know of gay civil rights leader Bayard Rustin's vital role in organizing the March on Washington, it's less known that before he ever became a historical figure, Rustin helped shape Dr. King's commitment to pacifism. Rustin didn't introduce a bill or organize a petition drive to let Dr. King know his feelings about non-violence. He talked to him. We shouldn't ignore political acts, or the people who make headlines. But too often we ignore how our own voices can shape the discussion. This Sunday would have been Dr. King's 77th birthday. Let's salute Dr. King by raising our voices.' — From an essay by the Human Rights Campaign's Julian High, Director of Diversity, and Donna Payne, Senior Constituency Organizer.
