Pictured: Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean shakes hands in the
crowd gathered at the Chicago gay bar Sidetrack Dec. 4. Photo by Tracy Baim
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''PEOPLE USED to go to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon,' says tourism director
Pat Fitzpatrick. 'We'll have a lot of gay and lesbian couples whose first thought is
Provincetown.' Travel agents specializing in gay vacations are expecting
Massachusetts to supplant Vermont as the wedding destination of choice. The
town's ready: the seaside Post Office Cafe & Cabaret is already running ads urging
couples to 'Have Your Reception Here,' and manager Dixie Federico is seeking to
become an ordained minister. Down the street at clothing store Diane Z, owner
Diane Fernandez is preparing to offer his-his and hers-hers tuxedo and gown
combinations. Other gay-friendly Massachusetts communities like Northampton
and Cambridge are also expecting a wedding boom, but Provincetown has two
advantages over most destinations: the cape's beautiful scenery, and a tolerant
atmosphere that ensures same-sex couples won't be greeted with a sneer at the
town clerk's office. And if traditional marriages are any guide, many newlyweds will
be booking return trips as well-to line the pockets of Provincetown's divorce
lawyers.' — Time Magazine's Jason McLure.
'As Governor of Vermont, I was proud to sign the nation's first law establishing civil
unions for same-sex couples. Today, the Massachusetts court appears to have
taken a similar approach to the Vermont Supreme Court and its decision that led to
our civil unions law. One way or another, the state should afford same-sex couples
equal treatment under law in areas such as health insurance, hospital visitation and
inheritance rights.' — Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, Nov. 18.
'While I support civil unions for same-sex couples, I also support the right of states
to make decisions regarding the protections afforded same-sex couples. I do not
support gay marriage.' — Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt, Nov.
18.
'We are no more evolved than we were in the Dark Ages, politically or spiritually. So
there's nothing to say, and no one has an alternative, no other plans have been
given a chance to work. ... I just feel I live in a country where, and even I'm guilty of
this—I'm like, 'As long as I can shop, everything's fine.'' — Singer Me'shell
Ndegeocello to the national lesbian magazine Curve, December issue.
'I have long believed that gay men and lesbians should be assured equal protection
and the same benefits—from health to survivor benefits to hospital visitation—that
all families deserve. While I continue to oppose gay marriage, I believe that today's
decision calls on the Massachusetts state legislature to take action to ensure equal
protection for gay couples.' — Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, Nov.
18.
'I think all drugs should be legalized and regulated. I don't think people should use
heroin. I think heroin will kill you. I think crystal meth is a disgusting drug that makes
you look terrible and smell bad and destroys your life. But, hey, if you want to do it,
you go ahead. But I have the right to my opinion about crystal meth.' — Syndicated
gay columnist Dan Savage in an interview with GayToday.com, Nov. 16.
'I think [gay] bathhouses are a disgusting place. ... I try to talk my friends out of going
to them, especially now in Seattle where there's a huge syphilis epidemic that's
soaring through the bathhouses.' — Dan Savage in an interview with
GayToday.com .
'People talked to me about hosting a reality show. I have no interest in hosting a
reality show. None. So I said no. And TV people are kind of shocked when you say
no. But I have a really swell life in Seattle editing my newspaper, writing my column
and hanging out with my family. I don't want to live in L.A. and do crappy television.'
— Savage in an interview with GayToday.com .
'My mom has a rainbow bumper sticker on her car. She's determined to do her part
for gay visibility in unincorporated McHenry County, Ill., despite the fact that there
aren't any gay people in McHenry County to visualize. My mother almost paid a high
price driving a gay-identified car: Last summer she and my stepfather were nearly
driven off the road by a couple of men screaming, 'Faggots!'' — Dan Savage writing
at Salon.com, Nov. 19.
'I love [gay U.S. Rep.] Barney Frank, but one of his aides needs to tell him not to pick
his nose on Nightline.' — Dan Savage writing at Salon.com, Nov. 19.
'Boys Meets Boy is old news, but I gotz to go there. No one wants to talk about what
happened in the final episode. America witnessed two supreme bottom beings
pretending to be the perfect match. How is that winning?' — Columnist Paulo
Murillo in fab!
'There was a time when I was like, 'OK, I'm over men. They're mean.' For like six
months, not a single thing happened. Not like they weren't drawn to me, but there
wasn't a single real attraction. I'm like, 'What's happening? I know I'm not a
lesbian'.' — Singer Britney Spears to Newsweek, Nov. 3.
'It is time for President Bush to end his alliance with homophobic bigotry once and
for all and speak out against the Republican Party's hostile election year attempt to
amend the United States Constitution to include a ban on gay marriage. Throughout
our history, the Constitution has been amended to afford expanded rights to
disenfranchised citizens, not to unfairly single out a particular group of Americans by
limiting their rights.' — Presidential candidate Dick Gephardt in a Nov. 8 statement.
'Closet gays stiffed by cock-and-bull stories' — Headline on an article in Japan's
English-language Mainichi Daily News about gays being blackmailed online with
threats of outing.
'No, I would not.' — Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards when
asked Nov. 9 on TV's Meet the Press: 'If a gay couple goes to Canada and is
married legally and returns to the United States, should that marriage be honored
here? If you were governor of a state, would you be supportive of that?'
'I hate it when taxi drivers ask me what I've been doing for the last few years. I'm not
retro, I'm current. I'm still making music. We've got loads of stuff in the pipeline.
We're writing new material all the time and it feels great.' — Gay singer Andy Bell of
Erasure to London's The Pink Paper, Nov. 7.
'I used to have a neighbor who put a refreshingly blunt bumper sticker on her car:
'Don't like abortion? Don't have one.' When I heard President Bush's response to
the recent Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts decision that said same-sex
couples were entitled to 'the protections, benefits and obligations of civil marriage,' I
thought of how that bumper sticker could be updated into a modest proposal for the
president: 'Don't like gay marriage? Don't have one.'' — Columnist Clarence Page
in the Chicago Tribune Dec. 3.
'The president vowed to 'do what is legally necessary to defend the sanctity of
marriage.' He did not explain precisely how gays and lesbians are attacking the
sanctity of marriage by wishing to be bound by it. In fact, same-sex marriages are
not likely to have any impact on the sanctity of the president's marriage or my
marriage or any other heterosexual's marriage. My wife and I would still be married
and so would the president and the first lady—for better or worse, in sickness and in
health, 'til death do us part, etc., etc. In fact, if anyone is undermining the sanctity of
marriage these days, it is my fellow heterosexuals. Look at our statistics:
Somewhere between 40 and 50 percent of first marriages end in divorce. ... We
make light of the institution with quickie Las Vegas marriages, quickie divorces and
weird catch-a-man shows like The Bachelor that elevate gold digging almost to an
Olympic sport. But we don't punish heterosexuals for debasing the sanctity of
marriage. ' — Clarence Page.
