'It''s a school to protect some people's lives ... . How can you think straight when you're getting your brains beaten?' — Howard Stern, defending the gay NY Harvey Milk High School on his show.
'I woke up in time to scan that new tome about Calvin Klein, which is the wackiest mystery book since Where's Waldo? I searched high and low for the word gay and came up empty, though there were several coy references to the designer having 'danced at Studio 54.' Why on God's gay earth are biographers still so antsy on this subject? The divorcé himself seems more open than before, and even goes to gay clubs, Fire Island, and for all I know, 'Butt-Pirates of the Caribbean.' His complex sexuality infuses his life, his work, and his merchandising. But the book? Noooo!' — Michael Musto's column Sept 8.
'You write an article advocating what you think would be useful, constructive suggestions about Iraq, and you get an avalanche of right-wing reaction about 'failure-mongers' and 'nattering nabobs of negativism.' Bill Safire is back at the same old stand after all these years, de-nouncing 'merchants of dismay' trying to justify their 'decade of appeasement.' Great. Anybody who opposed this war in the first place was accused of lack of patriotism, and now anybody who points out that it's not going well is guilty of defeatism. If you raise your hand and ask, 'Where are the weapons of mass destruction that we were told were the reason for this war?,' you're instructed to just Get Over It. Well, I ain't gonna take it anymore. I am not shutting up for Bill O'Reilly or anyone else. I opposed our unprovoked, unnecessary invasion of Iraq on the grounds that it would be a short, easy war followed by the peace from hell. I predicted that every terrorist in the Middle East would be drawn to Iraq like a magnet. I was right, and I'm not going to apologize for it.' — Columnist Molly Ivins. Ivins is coming to town Thursday, Oct. 2, 7:30, hosted by Women & Children First Books at the Swedish American Museum, a block south of the store. She's signing her new book, Bushwhacked: Life in George W. Bush's America. This will be a ticketed event; one free ticket will be given with the purchase of each copy of the book at $24.95. Books available starting Sept. 23, but pre-order at the store or call (773) 769-9299.
'I've gotten really high in my life, but I've never gotten so high that I had sex with a guy.' — Ozzy Osbourne on The Howard Stern Show, talking to DJ 'Crazy Cabbie,' who identifies himself as primarily straight but who has spoken freely of his sexual experiences with men.
'The hardest part of this race was to open up to the other people on it. To show a lot of wonderful people that are here that we're just like them. We're Americans, we're teammates of these guys, and we just happen to be gay. ... In the end, people look at both Reichen and myself and they see love, and they realize that Reichen and I are partners —and together, we can do anything.' — Chip Arndt after he and husband Reichen Lehmkuhl won CBS TV's The Amazing Race.
'This race was about a lot of things. It was about competitiveness. It was about showing the world that gay people can do anything that anyone else can do. But the most important thing I learned is I'm very loved by my partner, and I know that I can feel safe and happy and protected when I'm around him, and I trust him implicitly.' — Reichen Lehmkuhl.
'[We're] maybe at the other end of the spectrum, but we don't dis on anybody. Everybody has been trying to get us to say we're angry that there is all this stereotyping on 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy' and that these guys are really flamboyant. But that's who they are. With us, I just look at it as, yes, finally the media is presenting another type of gay person, and we just hope that the kids who are 12 to 20 years old, who might want to go to the Air Force academy, who are on a football team right now, who are on a water polo team or captain in a sport and are gay are saying: 'Wait a second. I don't identify with Will on Will & Grace. Now what do I do? Oh, wait a second. I identify more with those guys [from 'The Amazing Race']. OK, that's cool.'' — Chip Arndt to PlanetOut.com .
'As far as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy goes, Chip and I believe that everyone should have the right to be exactly who they want to be, and no one is here to judge whether someone is wrong because he's too flamboyant. We would just like to show this other side of gay culture, that we feel we and our friends are like. But we love Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. It's a great show.' — Reichen to PlanetOut.com .
'When we went on the show, we made no secret to CBS that we wanted to get on there and be portrayed as a married gay couple. And when they said, 'Are you legally married?' we said, 'No, we're not. We were married in California, where it's not legally recognized, but damn it, we had a wedding with 200 people—our closest friends and family. We consider ourselves married, not life partners. Would you please put married [in the supers]?' They took it all the way up to the executives, and it got approved, and we were thrilled.' — Reichen to PlanetOut.com .
'Since the race we had a lot of stress on us because one, just not being able to talk about it [winning $1 million] or anything, it has put a lot of stress on both of us and we have had some relationship troubles that we've been constantly working on. Chip and I love each other very much and we've always been committed to making sure the other person is happy. Nothing like that is going to change. If that means splitting up or staying together or whatever, we're still working on it. There's no black or white answer I can give you about where we are in our relationship. After all, it's a relationship.' — Reichen to St. Louis' exp magazine, Aug. 29.
'What we'd really like to do is to be a role model for youth out there who are gay and who are afraid to come out because they don't want to identify with what their straight parents might be calling fairies or people that they should be ashamed of in their communities or their churches.' — Reichen to exp magazine.
'Chip and I laid a big kiss on each other at the very end of the race that will never be shown to family television audiences.' — Reichen to TV Guide, Aug. 26.
'Chip and I have undergone a lot of stress since the race ended in February, and it put a lot of pressure on our relationship. We're just trying to work through things privately right now. The most important thing though, just sitting here together, I know that Chip and I agree that we love each other very much. We're just trying to work on things.' — Reichen to TV Guide.
