"This door's wide open now. It's gonna happen. Whether you like it or not!" — San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ( pictured ) in a video clip included in a TV ad by forces attempting to re-ban same-sex marriage in California by amending the state constitution. The ad is credited with flipping polls, with voters now narrowly favoring Proposition 8, the Nov. 4 ballot measure that would add the amendment to undo the state Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in June. If passed, the amendment would take effect immediately.
"We've been losing so many freedoms in the name of security; we're losing all of our freedom—what kind of a life is that? You can't look at a policeman funny for fear of being called a combatant, and thrown into Guantánamo and never be heard from again. It's insane what's been going on. The true reflection of a nation is how it responds when it's threatened, and we've not been responding very well, I don't think. We're too ready to give up a lot of our freedoms that we fought so hard for—for hundreds of years—in the name of what? Fear?" — Openly lesbian tennis great Martina Navratilova to the Vancouver gay newspaper Xtra! West, Oct. 23.
"It ( homosexuality ) was always kind of acceptable on the tennis tour anyway, at least among the women. The guys are very closeted. In fact I don't know any men that are gay that are in the closet. That's how closeted they are—I don't even know who they are. But women, I think, have been more forthright about that for whatever reason." — Openly lesbian tennis great Martina Navratilova to the Vancouver gay newspaper Xtra! West, Oct. 23.
"We ( activist Urvashi Vaid and I ) never made a huge public thing of our relationship. It puts too much pressure on it. We are truly a marriage of comedy and tragedy, but I'm never saying which one I am. The secret is that we have made a commitment to keep talking and to have fun. It's been 20 years now—but then, some afternoons seem 20 years long." — Lesbian comedian Kate Clinton to the national lesbian magazine Curve, November issue.
"All through Cagney & Lacey nobody believed I wasn't gay. I didn't even try and fight it. It didn't matter to me. I thought, How flattering is this? I guess it was because of the character and the following I had—they must have thought, 50,000 women can't be wrong. And I wasn't married. I didn't get married until I was 48 years old." — Actress Sharon Gless to the national lesbian magazine Curve, November issue.
"People change their minds about Proposition 8 when they hear the lie that churches will lose their tax-free status if they won't marry same-sex couples. Even though this is not true. So this is crunch time. ... We must get on the air now to answer these lies and swing votes back to our side. And the only way to do that is to raise more money. The generous $15.8 million that our supporters have given isn't enough." — Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors, Oct. 7. Voters will decide Nov. 4 whether to amend the state constitution to undo the state Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.
"Gays are like English people—once they like you, they like you till death. Our country is very disposable—few of us have long careers, and I'm lucky to be one of them." — Comedian Joan Rivers to the gay newspaper Dallas Voice, Oct. 10.
"Poor man. There is such a sickness there. It's so patently obvious that there is a psychosis there. I don't know what his original thing about me was. I have no idea. ... Obviously, hiding his homosexuality—talk about festering and not living the truth of your life and feeling badly about yourself—and being fearful somebody would find out about this terrible, terrible secret, so he thought. Finally at the age of, I think, 70, he decides to come out of the closet and say, 'I'm gay.' Like, who cares? Be gay. Don't be gay. That's up to you, George." — Actor William Shatner ( Captain Kirk ) on actor George Takei ( Sulu ) , in a video posted on Shatner's Web site, Oct. 22. Shatner was responding to Takei's having said in June: "Our contact list ( for our wedding ) has, like, 3,500 names, so we have to whittle it down and I don't know if William Shatner is going to make the cut. ... Kirk and Shatner both have this grand ego of sense of self. He sits there in the center of the set and he revels ( in ) it." Watch the video at tinyurl.com/5qw7mh.
"It is unfortunate that Bill was unable to join us for our wedding as he indeed was invited to attend. It is our hope that at this point he joins us in voting no on Proposition 8, which seeks to eliminate the fundamental right for same-sex couples to marry in California." — Takei, in response to Shatner, Oct. 22.
"Perhaps I'm being romantic but I think a lot of people screw around not with any intention of screwing around forever but because they're looking for something and it doesn't quite work out. They're open to the possibility of more but resigned to the idea that it may not happen and, in the meantime, they've got an adventure and sex." — Columnist Brent Ledger in the Toronto gay newspaper Xtra!, Oct. 9.
"I don't know what people are scared of. Maybe they think their children will be influenced ( by gay marriage ) , but I've got to tell you, I was raised by two heterosexuals. Everywhere I looked—heterosexuals. And they did not influence me." — Ellen DeGeneres on her TV show, Oct. 22.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
