"I do believe that in his heart he ( Obama ) will fight his tail off until we've achieved full equality in the gay community. ... I've been around a lot of very important politicians in my lifetime and I think this guy is different and I do trust him to do what is right. I also believe that he knows how to get things done, and that he will make a significant difference in a positive way in the lives of gay and lesbian Americans." Openly gay Steve Hildebrand, who was Barack Obama's deputy national campaign director and recently spoke with the president one-on-one at the White House about gay issues, to this column, July 5.
"Given our willingness to collaborate with you, and your efforts to undercut this case, we were surprised and disappointed when we became aware of your desire to intervene. You have unrelentingly and unequivocally acted to undermine this case even before it was filed. ... ( W ) e will vigorously oppose any motion to intervene. In public and private, you have made it unmistakably clear that you strongly disagree with our legal strategy to challenge Prop. 8 as a violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States Constitution. Your strident criticism of our suit has been constant." Chad Griffin, board chair of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, in a July 8 letter demanding that the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights cease efforts to intervene in AFER's federal same-sex marriage case seeking to overturn California's Proposition 8. AFER and its clients are represented by superstar attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies.
"Your intervention would create a complex, multi-party proceeding that would inevitably be hampered by procedural inefficiencies that are directly at odds with our goaland the goal of Chief Judge Walkerof securing an expeditious, efficient, and inexpensive resolution to the district court proceedings. As a result of your intervention, we could be mired in procedurally convoluted pre-trial maneuvering for yearswhile gay and lesbian individuals in California continue to suffer the daily indignity of being denied their federal constitutional right to marry the person of their choosing. ... Delaying equal marriage rights in California serves none of our interests." Chad Griffin, board chair of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, in a July 8 letter demanding that the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights cease efforts to intervene in AFER's federal same-sex marriage case seeking to overturn California's Proposition 8. AFER and its clients are represented by superstar attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies.
"Oddly enough, I've started Twittering. It's really easy to do. I use it as a little mini-platform for my thoughts and introspection. The MySpace and all that I couldn't figure out how to navigate, but Twitter is really easy so I'm enjoying it. I just want to get out my philosophies and thoughts. I don't think I care much about following anybody. I'm not even looking for a dialogue with anybody necessarily. I only want to be followed. Is that so wrong?" Lesbian comedian Sandra Bernhard to Windy City Times, June 10.
"We have the law. We say it won't be enforced. Is it totally clear? We, sometimes in these things, have to accept a bit of messiness. And the way the society is going, we don't think it's fair for us to prosecute people who say that they are homosexual. ... It's not for the government to say we are going to force something against the wishes of the people. We won't change the law, but how that is interpreted is up to the courts. It is not our position to tell the courts what to do." Singapore's law minister, K. Shanmugam, explaining July 6 that gay sex is illegal, but no one will be arrested for having gay sex, but the government won't repeal the ban, but the courts are free to strike it down if they want, and maybe they should. Seems to be some kind of "Do Ask, Do Tell, Don't Repeal, Do Sue" policy.
"Now that you've up and quit as America's favorite hottie milf ditzball politico moose-slashin' anti-choice anti-feminist destroyer of linear grammar, we feel adrift and lost, a nation without its favorite squeaky purple balloon." San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford writing to Sarah Palin, July 10.
" ( W ) e take it all back. I know, it's a bit humiliating to admit, but the nation needs you, Sarah. Or, more specifically, liberals and Democrats need you, given the simply spectacular job you've done of helping drag the Republican party, if not further to the extremist nutball right, certainly much further down the ladder of intelligence, respect and viability, than even Bush could've dreamed. As long as you're serving as the GOP's hood ornament, and as long as Rush and O'Reilly and Glenn Beck are behind the wheel, the Republican party has not a single prayer of relevance and capability in the next two decades." San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford writing to Sarah Palin, July 10.
"Any candidate for president in 2008to openly declare that he's in favor of same-sex marriage ... I think that it would give people on the right a sort of handy club to wield and use gay marriage as a wedge issue. And so I accept it ( that Obama didn't ) . I mean, I hate that we live in a world where this is the case, but I'm perfectly willing to accept that this may be a necessary compromise to make. I wish people didn't have to say, 'I believe marriage is between a man and a woman' when I think they obviously don't believe that. But ya know, if that's what it takes to get elected." Playwright Tony Kushner to CNN, June 15.
Assistance: Bill Kelley