'I absolutely think that there should not be two classes of civil rights—one for people who put penises in vaginas and one for people who don't. That's ridiculous.' — TV talk-show host Bill Maher to TheStripPodcast.com, Nov. 16.
'Vice President's Gay Daughter Pregnant'—Headline that this column thinks proves we're not in Kansas anymore, Dec. 6. Mary Cheney and Heather Poe's baby is due in late spring.
'Dick Cheney's Sixth Grandchild Will Have Two Mommies' — Headline on Mary Cheney's pregnancy, Dec. 6.
'The president congratulated them and said he is very happy for them.' — White House spokeswoman Dana Perino on Mary Cheney's pregnancy, Dec. 7.
'I think Mary is going to be a loving soul to her child. And I'm happy for her. ... Mary Cheney is going to make a fine mom and she's going to love this child a lot.' — President George W. Bush to People magazine, Dec. 15.
' [ Mary ] Cheney's no crusader; she has little interest in becoming the poster mom for gay parenthood. But whether she intends it or not, her pregnancy will, I think, turn out to be a watershed in public understanding and acceptance of the phenomenon. This is the Ellen DeGeneres moment of national politics.' — Columnist Ruth Marcus, Washington Post, Dec. 8.
'Perhaps [ Mary ] Cheney's high-profile pregnancy will help the Republican Party come to grips with [ the gay ] facts of life. If not, though, she's going to have to explain to her child what mommy was doing trying to help a party that doesn't believe in fairness for families like theirs.' — Columnist Ruth Marcus, Washington Post, Dec. 8.
'As it happens, in order to move closer to the vice president, Mary Cheney and her family have landed in Virginia—one of the states with the fewest legal protections for gay families like hers. Will she become an activist there to better defend her child's rights? Will the vice president? It would reflect badly on both if they didn't. Unassailable, though, is the Cheneys' success at an arguably tougher achievement: maintaining a strong family. Whether you respect their politics, in their personal lives they seem to have achieved an American ideal: a family that manages to respect each other's autonomy while supporting each other's highest goals.' — Houston Chronicle editorial on Mary Cheney's pregnancy, Dec. 10.
'She has not only injured her child, she has destroyed the work her father has done. She has acted in a way that denies everything that the Bush administration has worked for. She's essentially saying: 'In your face.'' — Concerned Women for America spokeswoman Janice Crouse on Mary Cheney's pregnancy, Dec. 6.
'I'd love to marry Portia [ de Rossi ] . I pray that Portia and I are together the rest of our lives, and I believe we will [ be ] —but I'd love to have a legalized commitment, obviously.' — Ellen DeGeneres to the British lesbian glossy Diva, January issue.
'I still do things to keep my life as regular as I possibly can. I still go places; I don't have bodyguards with me all the time. I don't have to worry about that yet. I pump gas, I go to grocery stores, I go shopping —I try to do things and live my life.' — Ellen DeGeneres to the British lesbian glossy Diva, January issue.
'I grew up going to church, but I was raised by my uncle who passed away with AIDS a couple of years ago. He was my mother's best friend. And my mother's cousin. He brought me to school every day. He helped me buy my prom dress. He made my clothes with my mother. He was like my nanny. He was my favorite person in the world. And you know, I never really mixed Christianity with how I felt [ about him ] . I am about faith and spirituality more so than religion. Doing right by others and not judging.' — Singer Beyoncé on gays to Instinct magazine, December issue.
'I try to stay away from churches who don't accept gays. I mean, I can't be a part of phony. It's not God's way. You embrace all people. I think that's what God wants, for all of us to love all of us, no matter who we are, what we do or whatever. And it's not a sin to be gay. So that's all I got to say. I have my feelings and I speak my mind.' — Singer Patti LaBelle, currently on a gospel tour of megachurches, to the Michigan gay newspaper Between The Lines, Nov. 30.
'Paris Hilton ... doesn't really have a vocation. She is basically a celebutante. She changed fame by mining high-fashion poses learned from drag queens.' — Lesbian writer Camille Paglia to Us Weekly magazine, Dec. 7.
'Ah, abstinence education. Could there be a more dizzy, glaring example of a first-rate BushCo failure? Could there be a more insulting, demeaning program the sole intention of which appears to be to deceive humanity and undermine every succulent human impulse and shove sexuality back into the 1850s and induce 10 million teens to resent and mistrust adults even more than they already do? Verily I say unto thee, there is not.' — San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford, Nov. 29.
'In the long term, lesbian and gay identity is doomed. And a good thing too. Like every other expression of human culture, homosexual and heterosexual identities are historically transient. They haven't always existed, and they won't last forever. Indeed, the weakening, blurring and eventual dissolution of the labels queer and straight will be final proof of the demise of homophobia.' — Key British gay activist Peter Tatchell writing in The Guardian, Nov. 27.
' [ They ] wanted me to play this role and my agents and managers turned it down and said, 'I don't think he wants to wear a dress.' So they called back and they said, 'Would he play the Nazi?' And they called me and they said, 'Guess what, we got the role of the Nazi.' And I said, 'I don't want the Nazi, I want the guy in the dress.' And they said, 'Really?' And I said, 'Yes.' And my agent's gay. I said to my agent, 'C'mon, man.' ... He said, 'I thought it would bother you.' I said: 'No, that's the gag. The gag is people would never expect me to come out in this and I can have a blast with this role. ... [ It's ] a natural progression: cars, women, gay man.' — Actor David Hasselhoff ( of Knight Rider and Baywatch fame ) on his new role as the gay cross-dressing director in a sit-down version of The Producers at Paris Las Vegas, to TheStripPodcast.com, Dec. 7.
'gettin a boner is good ... you have a nice dick ... so you like me ... are you as hard as i an [ sic ] now ... hard as a brick ... i would drive a few miles for a hot stud like you ... i always use lotion and the hand ... i have aa [ sic ] totally stiff wood now ... love to slip them off of you and gram [ sic ] the one-eyed snake ... i just sprung wood ... rather large too ... are you bonered too ... we will make oyu [ sic ] successful as long as you dont [ sic ] mind me grabbing your dick once in a while ... i am sooo smitten with you ... so oyu [ sic ] do have a boner now ... wow what a sight wish i was under your desk ... i would at least pul [ sic ] it out and say hello to the big boy and the [ sic ] give it some happiness ... youd [ sic ] like me to blow you ... and wuld [ sic ] you let me drink all of your cum' — From 100 pages of disgraced former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley's online instant messages with teenage boys and young men, newly posted at http://www.house.gov/ethics/PagePDFs/Exhibit%2013.pdf.
'Donald Trump is a personal friend of mine and has been a good friend to The View for many years. I'm sorry there is friction between Donald and Rosie. That said, I do not regret for one moment my choice to hire Rosie O'Donnell as the moderator of The View. I certainly hope and expect that this tempest will pass quickly.' — The View creator Barbara Walters commenting on the friction between co-host Rosie O'Donnell and mogul/pageant owner Donald Trump over his handling of embattled Miss USA Tara Conner's situation, in a Dec. 22 entry on The Showbuzz Web site. Trump has said that he will never appear on The View again.
Assistance: Bill Kelley; Also contributing: Andrew Davis
