"We're trying to change the strategy of the movement.We believe that the strategy that we have followed thus far—which was what made sense at the time and a strategy that was advanced by good, dedicated, hard-working people—is nonetheless a failed strategy. I am tired of fighting state by state, county by county, city by city for fractions of equality. I am tired of compromises and I am tired of the strategy that divides us from each other. It is time for us to unite across state boundaries in a truly nationwide movement to win full, actual equality, which can only come from the federal government. That's not my opinion. That's a fact. If we want to be equal under the law, we must now—as the great heroes of the civil rights movement of 1963 and 1964 showed us—turn our attention to the federal government." — Veteran activist, AIDS quilt founder and Milk movie character Cleve Jones, a key organizer of the Oct. 11 National Equality March in Washington, D.C., to Bilerico.com, Sept. 4.
"I joined the gay liberation movement in 1972. If you had told me in 1972 that in the year 2009 I would be campaigning for the right to join the Army or get married, I think I would have started dating women at that time. I have no personal desire to get married whatsoever and I certainly have no desire to be a soldier. I'm old school, I'm from gay liberation. We wanted to end war forever and smash the patriarchy, and these are values I still hold dear, but I believe that any person who wants to get married should have that right, and I know that gay, lesbian and bisexual people serve with distinction in the Armed Forces and that when they are killed, supposedly serving our country in these wars that I personally do not support, their partners back home do not receive death benefits. So ... it's about the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution and the basic civil rights to which all people, including our people, are entitled." — Veteran activist, AIDS quilt founder and Milk movie character Cleve Jones, a key organizer of the Oct. 11 National Equality March in Washington, D.C., to Bilerico.com, Sept. 4.
"I think the time for decisive action is now. We see from the polling in Massachusetts, for example, that even the most vociferous opponents of same-sex marriage calmed down after the fact. You know, the state did not explode, did not burst into flames, did not slide into the Atlantic. Massachusetts seems to be doing alright, Canada is still functioning, the cornfields in Iowa are still growing, you know. So it just seems clear to me, that if you want that bold step, you want to do it early in the ( Obama ) administration, give the electorate the opportunity to calm down and deal with it ( before the next election ) ." — Veteran activist, AIDS quilt founder and Milk movie character Cleve Jones, a key organizer of the Oct. 11 National Equality March in Washington, D.C., to Bilerico.com, Sept. 4.
"Despite all the dire warnings ( about gay marriage ) , the sky did not fall down. ... In fact, Massachusetts divorce rates are now down to pre-World-War-II levels: 1940. So, awkwardly, it turns out gay marriage is a defense of marriage act." — Lesbian MSNBC host Rachel Maddow on her show Sept. 3 following release of data showing that Massachusetts, which was the first state to legalize gay marriage five years ago, has the lowest divorce rate in the nation—and that the rate continues to drop.
"It's true that where we're concerned ( Obama ) has expressed no shortage of understanding and good intentions. To the NAACP, he said, 'The pain of discrimination is still felt in America ... by our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.' ... It's as if he's daring us: showing us the door is open, telling us to come in and get him." — Michael Joseph Gross writing in the September issue of The Advocate.
"Look, I think it's ( Don't Ask, Don't Tell ) ridiculous. Can you believe they spent—whatever they spent—$150,000 to get rid of a valued Arabic speaker recently? And, you know, the thing that changed me forever on Don't Ask, Don't Tell was when I learned that 130 gay service people were allowed to serve and risk their lives in the first Gulf War, and all their commanders knew they were gay; they let them go out there and risk their lives because they needed them, and then as soon as the first Gulf War was over, they kicked them out. That's all I needed to know, that's all anybody needs to know, to know that this policy should be changed." — Bill Clinton speaking at the Netroots Nation conference Aug. 13 in Pittsburgh.
"When Gen. Colin Powell came up with this Don't Ask, Don't Tell, it was defined while he was chairman much differently than it was implemented. He said: 'If you will accept this, here's what we'll do. We will not pursue anyone. Any military members out of uniform will be free to march in gay rights parades, go to gay bars, go to political meetings. Whatever mailings they get, whatever they do in their private lives, none of this will be a basis for dismissal.' It all turned out to be a fraud because of the enormous reaction against it among the middle-level officers and down after it was promulgated and Colin was gone. So nobody regrets how this was implemented any more than I do." — Bill Clinton speaking at the Netroots Nation conference Aug. 13 in Pittsburgh.
"It's fascinating to see what's happened in the gay and lesbian movement in the last decade. How mindsets have changed, how civil rights have applied to relationships between gays and lesbians. It's just fantastic." — Singer Melissa Manchester to San Diego's Gay & Lesbian Times, Aug. 27.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
