'Ultimately, the law, not bigoted theology or narrow public opinion, will determine whether the courts recognize the right of same-sex couples to marry. A majority of voters had doubts about interracial marriage on June 12, 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared the miscegenation laws in Virginia and 15 other states unconstitutional. The Republic, and the American family, survived.' — Columnist Eileen McNamara, Boston Globe, July 30.
'I ... dream of the day when the NLGJA [U.S. National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association] won't send preposterous guidelines to editors like those dated June 6, that stated, 'Drag queens and brigades of lesbian motorcyclists make great pictures, to be sure. And they are easy to find. But we invite you to dig a little deeper. ... It's easy to cover the flamboyance of the parade, but you'll find plenty of informative stories by spending more time exploring your local LBGT community.' Hello? To paraphrase my colleagues over at Toronto's Eye Weekly, the NLGJA is as dull as a fruitless Carmen Miranda.' — Syndicated Canadian gay columnist Richard Burnett, July 31.
'The amount of support we've received makes us feel very proud. The older members never thought they would see this. It's hugely symbolic. It brings a tear to your eye.' — Metropolitan Police Inspector Stephen Warwick to The Observer as gay cops marched in London's gay-pride parade in uniform for the first time, July 27.
'After the big 'C'ya!' to sodomy laws, courtesy of Justice Kennedy and the Supremes, gay marriage is charging down from Canada like the Horseman of the Apocalypse (say the screechy conservatives), potty-mouthed Michael Savage got his gay-bashing butt kicked off TV, and the queer 'Fab Five' made their over-the-top debut, there ain't no doubt about it: Hallelujah, it's raining queers.' — Patrick Letellier writing in the Santa Cruz, Calif., newspaper The Good Times, July 24.
'Uniform crowds, a considerable amount of middle-class rudeness, processions of politicians seeking office and rolling ads that didn't even pretend to float.' — Columnist Karen Rogers writing in Ottawa, Canada's Capital Xtra! July 17 after attending Toronto's gay-pride parade.
'Our unelected president is campaigning for Arnold Schwarzenegger and driving the whole planet over a cliff with his insane, extremist policies. That's what motivates me to write the strip now. In fact, if I didn't have this outlet, I would probably implode from horror and disbelief.' — Dykes To Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel to Los Angeles' Lesbian News, September issue.
'I didn't flaunt things. I know when Tony and I went to the movies, he would say, 'Let's go in disguise.' We always wore baseball caps. Or he'd say: 'You go at a certain time. I'll go later.' I knew people were talking. I didn't like that.' — 1950s screen idol Tab Hunter on his years-long gay relationship with actor Anthony Perkins, to The New York Times, Sept. 9.
'A number of people had startled looks. There were people that would pass by two or three times and kind of sidle up and ask a shy question. People would peel away from their group and come back alone. We had a few snickers and jeers, but generally it was a very welcoming environment.' — Joe Tarver of the Empire State Pride Agenda on staffing the gay booth at the New York State Fair, to the Syracuse Post-Standard, Aug. 26.
'I miss gay sass. I miss gay radicalism— unless radicalism is defined today as a desire for the conventional and the pedantic. I miss the anti-authoritarian counter-culture gay ethic that once thumbed its nose at the prissy, pedestrian conventions of straight life, with 1.7 kids, a minivan in the driveway and a house in the 'burbs.' — Rosie Dimanno writing in the Toronto Star, Aug. 27.
'What gays as a defined community give to the world—and I'm referring now to that faction of gays who've always stormed the ramparts of the ruling class, pushed the boundaries, profaned the pious, challenged the one-man/one-woman order of things—has enriched us, expanded our horizons, and generally made life more interesting, a peculiar fondness for ABBA music notwithstanding.' — Rosie Dimanno writing in the Toronto Star, Aug. 27.
'What I do look forward to is the day when the notion of gay and lesbian books or a gay and lesbian section in a bookstore will seem as strange and old-fashioned as a section devoted to books by women or books by people of color. ... For me and my friends, whether gay or straight, it's never a question whether or not a book is by a gay writer or if it's a story about gay people. We just read books.' — The Hours author Michael Cunningham to Publishers Weekly, Aug. 25.
'I was expecting more. You have these guys carrying on as big queens, mincing around, shrieking and flirting with the straight guys, and it's a bit over the top.' — New York Times Magazine Fashion Director Robert Bryan on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, to The New York Times News Service, Aug. 24.
'I'm a bit hesitant to talk about all this. I don't know what the impact will be. But I'm only doing it because it might help somebody —and to say that there is no such thing as casual crystal meth use!' — Gay singer Rufus Wainwright to The New York Times, Aug. 31.
Rufus is interviewed in next week's Windy City Times fall music preview issue.
'Word has it that none other than Secretary of State Colin Powell is amused and intrigued by the hit Bravo cable show [Queer Eye for the Straight Guy]. Don't know if we can actually call Powell a closet fan, but a good source reports the nation's chief diplomat TiVo's QE each week—so as not to miss an episode. It is interesting to hear this, considering it was under Powell's watch as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that they came up with the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy regarding gays in the military.' — Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker, Aug. 29.
'If we're a negative bottom, we assume no one would fuck us without a condom unless they, too, were negative. If we're an HIV-positive top, we assume that a bottom would not allow themselves to be fucked without a condom unless they, too, were positive. These assumptions are often wrong and, frankly, deadly. We simply must talk to each other.' — Gareth Kirkby, managing editor of the Vancouver gay newspaper Xtra! West, in an Aug. 21 editorial.
'Separate is never equal. Civil unions are a step in the right direction. But they almost always offer less than the full roster of rights that marriage entails—and they still stigmatize same-sex relationships as deserving only second-class recognition.' — Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth, Sept. 4.
'To me, that's not a reality show about gay people. A really good reality show for gay people would be five gay men dying of AIDS.' — Montana Family Coalition Executive Director Julie Millam on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, to the Billings Gazette, Sept. 10.
