THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

'WE EACH HAVE TO CHOOSE our own path. I respect their opinion, but it is not the path that I would choose for myself.' — Mary Cheney, Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter, in response to criticism by gay activists over her silence, to Primetime, May 4.

'I believe this [ same-sex marriage ] will be won, and I think it may be won as an issue earlier than people think. I don't think we should underestimate the difficulty of it, because it goes against some very traditional understandings in our culture, but I think it's the wave of the future. As people get to know gay and lesbian friends, it just becomes untenable to say that they cannot be married. It's like, how can you say that to a friend? To me it's just an outrage.' — U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., a likely presidential candidate, to Advocate.com, April 12.

'Love is transcendent and fulfilling and powerful and any force on earth that endeavors to make you feel that you should be ashamed for feeling genuine, deep love for another of your choosing is a form of oppression. Thomas Jefferson said, 'I have sworn on the altar of God, eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man.' Any force that tries to make you feel shame for being who you are, and loving who you love, is a form of tyranny over your mind. And it must be rejected, resisted and defeated.' — Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore addressing a Human Rights Campaign gala in Los Angeles March 25, according to IN Los Angeles magazine.

' [ F ] or God's sake, you're asking for monogamy and military service. Is that too much to ask for? You're asking for the simple right to be who you are and to be free from intimidation and persecution and discrimination and injustice designed to make you hide from who you really are. You're asking to make your life alongside the person you fall in love with. You're asking for the right to have full and equal recognition for that relationship and to form a life-long bond. That's not too much to ask for.' — Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore addressing a Human Rights Campaign gala in Los Angeles March 25, according to IN Los Angeles magazine.

'Now everything is on a plate for young [ gay ] people, which is good and how it should be, but I hate the way homosexuality is now promoted as a lifestyle. It's all about the money and the way people look. Aren't there poor gay people? Then again, that's probably just me being an out-of-it old queen.' — Gay singer Andy Bell ( Erasure ) to London's Pink Paper, April 6.

'Can you imagine what it must feel like for her? I think of her far more often than one should think of someone they don't know. I think of her a lot and what it must be like to know your father is VP of an administration that's trying to rob you of your civil rights. I can't imagine what that's doing to her soul and psyche. ... I feel compassion for her. Although none for her father or mother.' — Rosie O'Donnell on Mary Cheney, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's openly lesbian daughter, to the Denver gay magazine exp, March 31.