Pictured Armistead Maupin. Photo by Rex Wockner
'We're pouring hundreds of billions of dollars, not to mention thousands of troops, into the quicksand that is Iraq. Millions of Americans are uninsured or underinsured. Millions more can't afford the health care they need. Gas prices are hurting every level of government, every business and every individual except the oil barons ( in and out of the White House ) . The government can't seem to stop spying on us or lying to us. Our borders are about as secure as a screen door in New Orleans. Mother Nature is getting hotter and testier with every passing storm. We've got big problems. So, naturally, some of our political and religious leaders have something more important on their minds: Gay marriage. Must be an election year.' — Columnist David Waters, Scripps Howard News Service, May 31.
'This month, as millions of LGBT Americans prepare to march in PRIDE Parades across America, Republicans like Bill Frist are using issues like marriage as political wedges to distract people from their failed leadership and misplaced priorities. Because Americans have lost confidence in their ability to solve challenges like Iraq, immigration, health care, gas prices or homeland security, Republicans in Washington are ripping a page from the Karl Rove playbook by scapegoating LGBT families for partisan gain. This is morally wrong, and it hurts LGBT Americans. Democrats are committed to fighting this hateful, divisive amendment and to fighting similarly discriminatory ballot initiatives in states across the country. We strongly oppose any attempt to write discrimination into law—whether it be at the local or state levels or in the United States Constitution.' — Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and gay U.S. Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., issuing the committee's 'Proclamation on LGBT PRIDE Month,' June 1.
'The president who has pledged to be 'a uniter, not a divider,' is again spearheading a movement in the U.S. Senate this week that has, more than anything, hatred at its core. Southern historians have long debated whether 1960s race-baiting Alabama Gov. George Wallace was truly racist, or merely a fire-breathing demagogue—a populist turned segregationist hard-liner to win the vote. The same debate might be taken up these days for George W. Bush, a man who claims to be a 'compassionate conservative,' but whose actions often show him as nothing of the sort.' — Editorial in New Jersey's Herald Record daily newspaper about the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, June 4.
'In a political ploy that is as transparent as it is reprehensible, the Republicans who control Congress are preparing to vote again this week on a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. The move, led by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is right out of the dog-eared GOP playbook. ... Congress hopes to ... distract public attention from the serial blunders and omissions that have brought its own approval ratings, and the president's, to record low levels.' — Editorial in New Jersey's Trenton Times, June 4.
'A rich spoiled boy who never excelled at anything, rode on his family name, and nearly destroyed the nation.' — Rosie O'Donnell on George W. Bush, on her blog, May 19.
'This will always be a battle, even in 50 years, a hundred years time, there will be people, religions and organizations trying to deny us our freedoms. For many, the freedom to drink and dance with no interest in the political whatsoever is all that matters. But a constant awareness and involvement in the political is what shall protect us.' — Gay singer Jimmy Somerville to GayRussia.ru, May 21.
'The politics of not quite belonging is everywhere. It is about being the only queer at your workplace. Sure, you can be out and everyone is totally cool about it. But maybe a little too cool, because if it really was cool, they just wouldn't have to be so cool about it.' — Pink Triangle Press board member Brenda Cossman in an editorial in the Toronto gay newspaper Xtra!, May 25.
'I'm as amazed as anyone else that people are still reading it. I think it's got something to do with the fact that those books give people permission to live their lives the way they want, and that everyone can imagine a happy outcome if their heart is in the right place.' — Tales of the City series author Armistead Maupin to London's Pink Paper, May 18.
'I never thought I was writing gay fiction. I write about everyone, for everyone—gay, straight or whatever. I don't want the claustrophobic, ghetto feel of fiction that addresses itself solely, or even principally, to a gay audience. There are a lot of people—and I mean homophobes—who'd like nothing better than for us to just talk to each other, and not break out of the ghetto. I've claimed my place in the mainstream. That said, I'm very proud to be among the first of the openly gay breed of writers. I'm prouder of that than anything.' —Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin to London's Pink Paper, May 18.
