'A lot of the chiefs of staff, the people who really run the underpinnings of the Republican Party, are gay. [ RNC Chairman ] Ken Mehlman. OK, there's one I think people have talked about. I don't think he's denied it when he's been—people have suggested—he doesn't say 'I'm not.'' — TV talk-show host Bill Maher appearing on CNN's Larry King Live, Nov. 8. CNN removed the attempted outing from rebroadcasts of the show and forced YouTube to delete a clip of the remarks, claiming that blogger John Aravosis, who posted the clip, had violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The following day, CNN reported that Mehlman will step down from his job by the end of the year. This publication has no independent knowledge of Mehlman's sexual orientation.
'I was certainly not trying to out Ken Mehlman. I was surprised to learn what a surprise this was to so many people because I guess I'm in my little bubble world of political junkies and in that world, you know, this is, you know, it's about as much of a secret as Liberace.' — Bill Maher to TheStripPodcast.com, Nov. 16.
' [ Traditional Values Coalition Chairman Lou ] Sheldon disclosed that he and 'a lot' of others knew about [ disgraced Christian right leader Ted ] Haggard's homosexuality 'for awhile ... but we weren't sure just how to deal with it.' Months before a male prostitute publicly revealed Haggard's secret relationship with him, and the reverend's drug use as well, 'Ted and I had a discussion,' explained Sheldon, who said Haggard gave him a telltale signal then: 'He said homosexuality is genetic. I said, no it isn't. But I just knew he was covering up. They need to say that.'' — From a Nov. 10 article in The Jewish Week entitled 'Christian Right Agenda In Shambles After GOP Defeat.'
'While most callboys will continue to respect a code of silence where the average closet case is concerned, the Ted Haggards of the world have been placed on notice: You can't have your callboy and disparage him too.' — Writer Dan Savage in a New York Times opinion piece, Nov. 8.
'No matter how long he struggled, no matter how much faith he had, [ Ted ] Haggard's sexual orientation remained unchanged. Nothing helped. Not prayer, not Jesus H. Christ on his cross. Nothing. ... The ex-gay thing is over. It's dead. It was bullshit from the start. And I will personally track down and bitch-slap the next fundie douche who sends me an e-mail explaining how Jesus can cure me. And I will personally track down and shit in the mouth of the next cable news anchor who entertains the notion of a miracle cure for homosexuality. Consider yourself warned, Paula Zahn.' — Syndicated columnist Dan Savage, Nov. 14.
'You'll find no evangelical, no Christian leader anywhere coming out and saying: Let's do something different. Let's take this shocking [ Ted ] Haggard scandal as a cosmic sign, as a big rainbow-colored warning flag that maybe, just maybe we need to look at this gay issue with a little more love and a little less nauseating pseudo-spiritual homophobic dogma. Maybe now is the time to rethink this hateful ideology that has kept us so deep in fear and mistrust and sexual agony for so long.' — San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford, Nov. 8.
'I think religion has always tried to turn hatred towards gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays. But there are so many Christian people I know who are gay and love their religion. ... I would ban religion completely, even though there are some wonderful things about it. I love the idea of the teachings of Jesus Christ and the beautiful stories about it, which I loved in Sunday school and I collected all the little stickers and put them in my book. But the reality is that organised religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate.' — Elton John to Britain's The Observer, Nov. 12.
'Dave [ Furnish ] and I as a couple seem to be the acceptable face of gayness, and that's great. I've got to use that power to try and do what I can ... to try to make the situations in Russia and Poland [ better ] . I'm off to Poland in two weeks to say something there because the situation is not good. If I'm on the board of Amnesty International I can't just sit back and say nothing. ... I'm going to fight for them, whether I do it silently behind the scenes or vocally so that I get locked up. I can't just sit back; it's not in my nature any more. I'm nearly 60 years old, after all. I can't sit back and blindly ignore it, and I won't.' — Elton John to Britain's The Observer, Nov. 12.
'We'll have been together 36 years in March. ... It's a matter of commitment and something that binds you soulwise. I don't know what it is. I can't imagine Jane [ Wagner ] not being in my life. If you really know what there is to love about someone, it really can't be violated. Our families are intertwined and I'm close to her sister too. It just is.' — Actress/comedian Lily Tomlin to the Carolinas gay newspaper Q-Notes, Nov. 4.
'The auto-fellatio scene. We had to film it three times, with three cameras each time. And because there was a 'money shot,' we did it in the morning one day, then again that afternoon and then again the next morning.' — Gay actor Paul Dawson recalling his most difficult scene in the critically acclaimed new film Shortbus, to the Palm Springs gay magazine The Bottom Line, Nov. 10. Dawson's character fellates himself and then ejaculates into his own mouth while masturbating.
'Last night we saw unprecedented victories for fair-minded candidates and for equality; we also witnessed a stinging rebuke of anti-gay elected officials in this country. The historic rejection of the domestic partnership ban in Arizona is a symbolic turning point in the march towards marriage equality.' — Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese, Nov. 8.
'Rick Santorum, the third-ranking GOP senator, compared same-sex marriage to 'man on child, man on dog' sex. He supported allowing faith-based service providers to discriminate in hiring based on religion with federal dollars and to proselytize. ... We are thrilled, ecstatic and overjoyed that Rick Santorum has been thrashed at the polls. His extreme and gratuitous homophobia will no longer pollute the Senate. Good riddance.' — National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman, Nov. 7.
'Praise Jesus, the Christian right's stranglehold on culture and morality is over. As pointed out by Slate, the all-powerful evangelical church's bizarre and insufferable run of influence has peaked, and its easy access to Washington is now falling away like Tom DeLay's toupee during the Apocalypse. And Ted Haggard, bless his little meth-happy gay soul, provided the final nail in the coffin of religious right hypocrisy at just the right moment. It's almost as if it were ... ordained.' — San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford, Nov. 10.
'Social conservatives drove the GOP's agenda the last several years. Their divisive agenda alienated the mainstream Republicans and independents who determined this election's outcome. Social conservatives should take responsibility for this loss. ... A strategy that caters solely to a narrow group may win one election, but it won't create a permanent majority. The GOP spent the last several years catering to social extremists. But social conservative leaders will always bully and threaten instead of working for the party's future. They're an unreliable foundation who can't be trusted for long-term support.' — Log Cabin Republicans Executive Vice President Patrick Sammon, Nov. 7.
