Julia Roberts._______
'I am a pathetic lover, I never had the right cards in my hand. Being Catholic, coming from a military background, then having that dawning, nagging feeling that I was not going to be on the right side of the fence. It had a knock-on effect on so many things and I felt so guilty for ages about sex, then with AIDS happening it was almost like my worst fears were true. So I don't think I have been a great lover, really, no. Not in this lifetime. I am either too selfish or too extreme. Too vulnerable, or too self-centred. I never took myself seriously enough.' — Gay actor Rupert Everett to England's Daily Telegraph, Sept. 19.
'I've dodged so many bullets. Not just because of unsafe sex, but because of the amount of drugs I did, the amount of alcohol, the amount of work I was doing. I started the Elton John AIDS Foundation because I got so lucky.' — Elton John to Access Hollywood, according to a Sept. 28 Associated Press filing.
'Fuck them. I have never bashed any gays before, and if I bashed gays, I bashed them 16 years ago. There's no tolerance from [ the gay community ] . I'm not a gay-basher. I'm not a homophobe.' — Jamaican dancehall reggae singer Buju Banton to Billboard.com, Sept. 29. The lyrics to Banton's 1992 hit Boom Bye Bye include, 'Boom bye bye / Inna batty bwoy head / Rude bwoy no promote no nasty man / Dem haffi dead / Send fi di matic an / Di Uzi instead / Shoot dem no come if we shot dem / Guy come near we / Then his skin must peel / Burn him up bad like an old tire wheel.' 'Batty bwoy' is a pejorative Jamaican term for 'gay man.'
'I've probably been surprised at how positive things have been as opposed to how negative, because I went into it [ coming out ] prepared to deal with all the negative stuff that was gonna happen, and ... so far everything has gone a lot better than I thought it would.' — Olympic gold medalist and WNBA Most Valuable Player Sheryl Swoopes to the national lesbian magazine Curve, October issue.
'My best friend in the whole world, Steve Sollitto, is my makeup artist, and he was one of my bridesmaids in my wedding. He has such a good energy, the most honest and sincere spirit. He was rumored to be my lover for a minute because we were photographed together all the time. We would crack up because we were like, 'Eww, we're totally brother and sister.' We do like to go out and have a good time, though sometimes he likes to have 'boy time.'' — Singer Christina Aguilera to Advocate.com, Sept. 11.
'The only time I took Ecstasy was years and years ago. It was absolutely amazing. It was just fantastic—really, really fun. ... I've tried loads of drugs, but it would really bug me if I got busted in the tabloids because I take them so rarely.' — Gay British TV celebrity Graham Norton to Marie Claire magazine, Oct. 7.
'There is no gay gene—that is the biggest crock out there at the moment. I'm making a call to other gay writers to say the period of identity politics is over. I'm saying to everyone, use your talents—if you're gay, black, Asian, whatever—use them to address universal human questions. Stop trying to push young gays back into the ghetto; let them out, let them think of addressing and speaking to a general audience.' — Author Camille Paglia to the British lesbian magazine Diva, October issue.