"As we saw during primary season, our president-elect is not free of his own brand of hubris and arrogance, and sometimes it comes before a fall: 'You're likable enough, Hillary' was the prelude to his defeat in New Hampshire. He has hit this same note again by assigning the invocation at his inauguration to the Rev. Rick Warren, the Orange County, Calif., megachurch preacher who has likened committed gay relationships to incest, polygamy and 'an older guy marrying a child.' Bestowing this honor on Warren was a conscious—and glib—decision by Obama to spend political capital. It was made with the certitude that a leader with a mandate can do no wrong." — New York Times columnist Frank Rich, Dec. 28.
"I resigned from the planning committee of the Equality Summit because I felt that the press should be allowed into the entire conference. ... It felt like the same old 'secretive' process that had happened during the No on 8 campaign." — Veteran lesbian activist Robin Tyler on Dec. 30 protesting a decision to limit media access during portions of a big Jan. 24 summit in Los Angeles where more than 250 gay activists will organize and strategize on how to win back same-sex marriage in California. Summit organizers have said they are worried that media coverage could divulge strategies to gays' opponents, though Tyler's public resignation—and her turning over of internal documents to reporters—apparently has the organizers rethinking their decision.
"It is always hard to be in a tiny minority whose rights and dignity are removed by a majority. It's a brutal rebuke to the state supreme court, and enshrinement in California's constitution that gay couples are now second-class citizens and second-class human beings. Massively funded by the Mormon church, a religious majority finally managed to put gay people in the back of the bus in the biggest state of the union. The refusal of Schwarzenegger to really oppose the measure and Obama's luke-warm opposition didn't help. And cruelly, a very hefty black turnout, as feared, was one of the factors that defeated us." — Gay writer Andrew Sullivan on his blog, Nov. 5.
"In an HBO documentary set to air Jan. 29, disgraced evangelical leader Ted Haggard says he never claimed to be heterosexual, as was once reported, and he continues to struggle with same-sex attraction. ( Haggard says, ) 'The reason I kept my personal struggle a secret is because I feared that my friends would reject me, abandon me and kick me out, and the church would exile and excommunicate me.'" — From a news article in Colorado Springs' The Gazette, Dec. 17.
"Religious leaders obviously have every right to speak out in opposition to anti-discrimination measures, even in the degrading terms that Rev. Warren has used with regard to same-sex marriage. But that does not confer upon them the right to a place of honor in the inauguration ceremony of a president whose stated commitment to LGBT rights won him the strong support of the great majority of those who support that cause." — Gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., Dec. 18 after Barack Obama announced that prominent evangelical preacher Rick Warren will deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration.
"I have decided to decline the invitation to attend the inauguration as I cannot be part of a celebration that highlights and gives voice to someone who advocated repealing rights from me and millions of other Californians. ( Rick Warren ) actively works to divide Americans based on who we are and has been an ardent supporter of efforts to ostracize LGBT Americans." — Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors Dec. 18 after Barack Obama announced that prominent evangelical preacher Rick Warren will deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration.
"I think the more visible we are, the more difficult it is for people to be prejudiced, and it just spreads; it's going to spread like a good virus around the world. Unfortunately there are still countries in this world where homosexuality is punishable by death and there's dozens of them that can put you in jail and will put you in jail. So we've got a long way to go. Here we are complaining that you can't get married, and if you're in Nigeria they'll hack you to death. So there's still a long ways to go. The easiest way to support it is to be out and be active here." — Openly lesbian tennis great Martina Navratilova to the Vancouver gay newspaper Xtra! West, Oct. 23.
"Both poles of the gay rights movement, from grassroots activists to polished politicos, complain that they were shut out of No on 8's decision-making process from the start." — The Advocate, Dec. 16.
"We spent a lot of time together and I'm curious if you feel that all of our intimate cuddling and spooning all night long might have been a liiittle more enjoyable than you would like to admit." — Openly gay "Survivor: Gabon" player Charlie Herschel to winner Bob Crowley during the final episode, Dec. 14.
"You're a wonderful person. I like you a lot. And you're nice and warm at night. I didn't give a hoot." — "Survivor: Gabon" winner Bob Crowley, in response to Herschel.
"Every other day, I get called a 'fag,' and get threatened to be beat up. There are still some really, really ignorant people out there." — Out singer Lance Bass to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Dec. 26.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
