Presidential candidate John Edwards. Photo by Rex Wockner
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'I don't know why somebody else's marriage has anything to do with me. I'm completely comfortable with gay marriage.' — Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, speaking at the kickoff event for San Francisco gay pride, June 24.
'It's not the only thing we disagree about. She actually says what she thinks. A lot of people I love and care about feel the same way Elizabeth does. ... I'm very strong about ending discrimination against gay and lesbian couples. But I'm not quite where Elizabeth is yet.' — John Edwards appearing with his wife on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, June 25.
'The differences between the Democratic and Republican fields of candidates on [ LGBT ] issues are shockingly stark and profoundly depressing. Over time, the majority of Americans have moved to support basic fairness for LGBT Americans, including nondiscrimination and hate crimes laws, repeal of 'Don't Ask Don't Tell,' and protections for our families. Sadly, the Republican field has gone in the opposite direction, still clearly pandering to the venom of the so-called 'religious right.' This only means that they will continue to use our lives as cultural wedge fodder whenever it's deemed politically expedient.' — National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman in a June 27 statement.
'We were all amphetamine thin with long dirty hair and hip huggers and funny black boots that zipped up the side and denim cowboy shirts with pearlescent pressure-pop buttons. We didn't have big showboat muscles or lots of attitude. We didn't look very healthy, but we were healthy—this was 12 years before AIDS was first heard of, and all we got was the clap. We had that a lot, maybe once a month, since no one but paranoid married men used condoms.' — Gay author Edmund White writing about 1969 and the Stonewall Inn in the pride issue of the Seattle weekly The Stranger, June 20. See tinyurl.com/2k9c5q.
'I was there [ the night the Stonewall Inn was raided ] , just by chance, and I remember thinking it would be the first funny revolution. We were calling ourselves the Pink Panthers and doubling back behind the cops and coming out behind them kicking in a chorus line. We were shouting 'Gay Is Good' in imitation of the slogan 'Black Is Beautiful.' GLBT leaders like to criticize young gays for not taking the movement seriously, but don't listen to them. Just remember that at Stonewall we were defending our right to have fun, to meet each other, and to have sex. Up till that moment, we had all thought that homosexuality was a medical term. Suddenly we saw that we could be a minority group—with rights, a culture, and an agenda. June 27, 1969, was a big date in gay history.' — Gay author Edmund White writing in the pride issue of the Seattle weekly The Stranger, June 20. See tinyurl.com/2k9c5q.
'Gay audiences are just fantastic. They can be very fickle but they are extremely loyal and they escort a diva on the path of her career and that is a beautiful thing!' — Pop singer Melissa Manchester to Chicago's Windy City Times, June 20.
'I'm really slutty when it comes to MySpace. I'll be friends with everybody. I'll fuck Tom, I don't care.' — Honorary-homosexual comedian Margaret Cho when the San Diego gay magazine Buzz pointed out that her MySpace page has 49,000 friends, June 22.
'Olivia Newton John—for years everybody was talking about how she was a lesbian, and then I met her and she was so hetero. It was the headband she wore all through the '80s that made people think she liked women.' — Comedian Margaret Cho to the San Diego gay magazine Buzz, June 22.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley