'I would wish my daughter to have happiness and freedom to make her own choices. The vice president said in the debate with Joe Lieberman ever so long ago in 2000 that freedom in this country ought to mean freedom for everyone.' — Lynne Cheney, wife of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, when asked Sept. 15 by CBS News if she wishes her lesbian daughter Mary had the right to marry.
'I think ( Sarah ) Palin's great. I think she's awesome. I think she's honest, I think she's real.' — Out tennis great Billie Jean King to The New York Observer, Sept. 8.
'Last Friday, a reporter from The New York Observer asked me what I thought about Sarah Palin. I told her I thought Sarah Palin was honest and real. I believe that. But, that in no way should be viewed as an endorsement of any kind. I oppose many of the positions of Sarah Palin, particularly those tied to the LGBT community. I am supporting Barack Obama.' — Billie Jean King in a Sept. 9 statement.
' ( Sarah Palin ) opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves 'abstinence-only' programs, which increase unwanted births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers' millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly, only younger.' — Author and feminist activist Gloria Steinem writing in the Los Angeles Times, Sept. 4.
'Anytime someone goes to the library and says, 'I want to ban books,' and the librarian says 'no,' and she threatens to fire them—that's scary.' — Former New York Mayor Ed Koch telling Politico.com why he won't vote for Sarah Palin and John McCain, Sept. 9.
'A college professor of mine helped me to see the lives of LGBT people from a different perspective. He was the first openly gay professor that I had ever come in contact with, or openly gay person of authority that I had come in contact with. And he was just a terrific guy. His comfort in his own skin and the friendship we developed helped to educate me on a number of these issues.' — Barack Obama to the Washington Blade, Sept. 10.
'He ( Barack Obama ) was one of those unusual, straight young men who was secure enough in his sexuality that he was not fearful of being associated with me, whether that involved taking a class or just talking socially. ... He was remarkable in that he was not intimidated by a publicly gay figure and, in fact, was interested in learning from me, whether formally or informally. That required an extraordinary kind of confidence in an 18- or 19-year-old—the kind that comes from somewhere deep inside ... He demonstrated a kind of social courage, which has served him well and helped get him where he is today.' — Former Occidental College political science professor Lawrence Goldyn, to whom Obama refers in the previous quote, to the Washington Blade, Sept. 10.
'I don't have much patience—particularly for people in my party, the Democratic Party—that are arguing for separate institutions ( such as civil unions for gay people ) as somehow equal. That's not audacity. That's not authenticity. That's not about conviction. That's about accommodation and political posturing. And I'm done with that.' — San Francisco mayor and probable gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom to journalist Karen Ocamb, Aug. 2 in Beverly Hills.
'OK, listen people. I've done my best to keep up with all these social networking doodads. I got a MySpace page for the blog. I'm on Linkedin. I'm on LastFM. I even created a Facebook account, even though I can't figure out what I'm supposed to do with it. But I give up. Not doing Twitter. Not doing Tumblr. Enough! Stop. Seriously.' — Popular gay blogger Joe Jervis ( Joe.My.God. ) , Aug. 20.
'When I hear people like George Bush talk about the gay community being anti-American it makes my blood boil. The guy who saved the White House, one of the heroes who crashed that plane on 9/11, was gay—the rugby player Mark Bingham, who died on United 93. And does Bush ever mention that? ... That gay guy saved his lousy ass.' — Singer Cyndi Lauper to The Times of London, Aug. 2.
'Well, the food is gay. The water is gay. There's a gay vibe.' — Ellen DeGeneres when asked by Newsweek, 'What's the difference between a gay wedding and a straight one?' Sept. 6.
'Being in love is easy—it's all the other things that are not so easy. It's a lot of work. It's like anything, and not to overstate the obvious, but it's not unlike being in a band for 28 years and realizing, How do you talk to each other after 28 years? You pull yourself out of the bad and put yourself someplace where you're actually able to construct something.' — Openly gay R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe to the magazine Room 100, summer 2008 issue.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley