Meryl Streep. Patrick Wilson.________
'With his teddy bear looks and down-home manner, Denny Hastert is the kind of guy you want to like. If only to retain what little faith in government I still have, I want to believe his explanation that he was out of the loop in the great page scandal. So I listened carefully on Thursday when the speaker rolled out in front his office in far west suburban Batavia to apologize and give his thoughts on who did what. It was a good, sometimes compelling show. But, sorry, Mr. Speaker. In the end I wasn't convinced. I think the reason why has to do with the difference between accepting responsibility and accepting blame.' — Crain's Chicago Business columnist Greg Hinz.
'Meanwhile, more than a dozen pages have been quoted by national media as saying that the broader page network was aware of Mr. Foley's activities, and warned entering page classes to take care with him. So the pages knew. But the House's management team—Dennis Hastert, CEO—had no idea. Right.' — Hinz.
'The blame game is in full swing. Conservatives in the media are going out of their way to place blame on every boogie man they can think of. From a supposed congressional gay conspiracy to Florida's voters, they've even blamed Foley's victims. That's just reckless and irresponsible.' — David Brock, President and CEO of Media Matters.
'Given similar past sordid situations in the page program perpetrated by male members of Congress against female pages, it's absurd to blame the Foley spectacle on his being gay, closeted or otherwise. Given the fact that the current Republican leadership in the House has never hesitated to attack gay people, it's even more absurd for people like Newt Gingrich to say the reason they didn't take prompt action was because they didn't want to be accused of 'gay bashing.' Cut me a break. What's clear is that the House leadership elevated holding onto a seat above the interests of young people in the page system. And they want to talk about 'moral values'? Please.' — Matt Foreman, executive director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
'The language from high-level conservatives in the last couple of days has been deeply troubling. They continue to try and dodge responsibility for their cover up, instead opting to do what they do best by blaming gays. It is completely unacceptable, regardless of party or sexual orientation, for an adult to engage in this kind of behavior with a minor. The American people deserve leaders who confront problems and take responsibility, not leaders who excuse their corruption by trying to pin it on others. If the Republican leadership cared about the well-being of our country they would level with the American people and call this what it is, inexcusable behavior that has nothing to do with one's sexual orientation.' — Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.
''First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. And then you win.' The quote is from Mahatma Gandhi, but it's been borrowed many times by the leaders in the fight for marriage equality. Today, 10 years since the issue entered the national consciousness for the first time, we are most definitely in the middle of phase three. Will phase four follow? Yes. When? That's the hard question.' — Syndicated writer Ann Rostow in the Dallas Voice, Sept. 14.
'There was a time before AIDS when the baths were more integrated into the gay male community. Now they're looked upon as some last-resort thing that you do privately and don't talk to your friends about.' — Bill Stackhouse, director of the Institute for Gay Men's Health at New York City's Gay Men's Health Crisis, to the Reuters wire service, Sept. 11.
' [ In New York City, ] two thick, glossy, ad-heavy, full-coloured magazines tell NYC gay men where to go to party, while two thin tabloids cover politics in the driest way possible. The gay party boys, it is assumed, don't care about social change, while the gay politicos, it is assumed, never get any tingling feeling in their nether regions.' — Paul Gallant, managing editor of the Toronto gay newspaper Xtra!, writing in the Sept. 14 issue.
