"We were overconfident ( on same-sex marriage ) in California.In Maine, there is no illusion of easy victory. This one will be hard fought, and conservative forces will once again spend with little abandon to delay the inevitable. They can read the polls as well, and they see that their most favorable constituency is dying off, and that younger generations are too tolerant for their hateful brand of bigotry." — Daily Kos Publisher Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga ( "Kos" ) , Sept. 18. A new Kos poll shows gays losing marriage in Maine 48 percent to 46 percent.
"We need an ACT UP constantly and always. ACT UP at its peak of success had several hundred chapters all over the world, and it's because of ACT UP that every single one of those AIDS treatments is out there. We hammered and protested and put our lives on the lines and stormed the NIH ( National Institutes of Health ) and broke into drug companies. And we taught ourselves everything there was to know about how the system worked, and we worked it. And that's how those drugs are out there. And as soon as we got the drugs, ACT UP sort of folded its tent, and we really need the equivalent of something like that that's on guard every single day against our enemies, and we don't have that." — Activist legend Larry Kramer to the Dallas Voice, Sept. 18.
"We must never forget that everything we have won can very quickly be taken away from us. We have seen this time and again. Presidents come and go ignoring us. This president is no different. Once again he is not doing it for us and once again we are letting him get away with it. This president is another loser for us and I predict he will remain this way." — Activist legend Larry Kramer speaking at Dallas gay pride, Sept. 20.
"We knew ( from the Prop 8 battle in California ) what the opposition was going to say ( in the current battle in Maine ) . ... Shouldn't we have had an ad on the air already addressing these specific concerns before the Yes on 1 opened their lying mouths? ... We need to kill their arguments before they even voice them. We need to tell Mainers: 'You're going to hear that marriage is going to be taught in schools, but you have the power to decide that yourself in your districts. You're going to hear that your church is going to be sued, but you already have protections in place by law. The other side is going to try and confuse this issue, to state things that are not in the law. They want to mislead you. They will lie to you. This is not about curriculum, not about religion. What this is about is civil marriage for all. It's about protecting families. It's about being fair.' But that's just a start. It's got to hit harder. Expose the lies as lies." — Blogger Phillip Minton ( unitethefight.org ) , Sept. 17. A new poll shows gays losing marriage in Maine 48 percent to 46 percent.
"We also must condemn violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In country after country after country, young men and women are persecuted, are singled out, even murdered in cold blood, because of who they love or just based on claims that they are gay. We are starting to track violence against the LGBT community, because where it happens anywhere in the world, the United States must speak out against it and work for its end. Through our annual human rights report, we are documenting human rights abuses against LGBT communities worldwide. And we are seeking out partners at the United Nations such as Brazil, France, Sweden and the Netherlands to help us address these human rights abuses." — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaking Sept. 11 at the Roosevelt Institute's Four Freedoms Medals Gala Dinner in New York City.
"I've been affected by gay issues my whole life. I have ( gay ) friends that are married. I have ( gay ) friends that are great parents. I have ( gay ) friends that are business partners, who are fabulous and in established relationships that have lasted longer than both of my marriages combined. I'm also lucky that I had parents who were really open and non-judgmental and inclusive, and I guess there aren't that many in the grand scheme of things, but in New York—and in my business—it's very natural. So, I'm always surprised by people that are not tolerant, that are uneducated, and it saddens me, but honestly there's a lot of change going on. It's furious." — Actress and singer Vanessa Williams ( who plays Wilhelmina on Ugly Betty ) to San Diego's Gay & Lesbian Times, Sept. 17.
"It ( my relationship with David Webster ) just gets better and better. I wanted him from the very beginning, and it took a long time to get him, and now I've got him. It's worked out beautifully. So for those of you with similar stories, take hope when it doesn't work the first time." — Activist legend Larry Kramer to the Dallas Voice, Sept. 18. Kramer and Webster were a couple for four years in the 1970s, then broke up and didn't see each other for 17 years, before getting back together in the early 1990s.
"It will be interesting to see how ( new judge Ellen ) DeGeneres relates to the gaydar-scrambling parade of ' ( American ) Idol' contestants who, with the network's PR assistance, mainly deflect the issue of their sexual orientation as irrelevant to the task at hand, which is pop stardom and mainstream marketing, which turned youngsters such as Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert into the most curious sort of modern-day closet cases. Ellen knows a thing or two about that—when orientation is relevant and when it is not—and it remains to be seen if she'll be able to bring this sort of nuance to the clear-plastic desk of decision." — Washington Post TV critic Hank Stuever on the selection of Ellen DeGeneres to replace Paula Abdul as a judge on American Idol, Sept. 11.
—Assistance: Bill Kelley
