"Is Eminem queer? If I saw him in the street I would suspect he might be gay. To me, Eminem looks and dresses queer. His short-cropped, bleached blonde hair, earrings, tattoos and white vests are typical gay club fashion. It would be easy to mistake him for a stylish young gay man. For someone who says he hates fags, Eminem is totally obsessed with gay sex. Almost every track on his Marshall Mathers album has a reference to homosexuality, much of it dwelling on oral and anal sex. This fascination with gay sexuality begs the question: Why? If he loathes homosexuality, why does he keep rapping about it all the time?" -; Renowned British gay activist Peter Tatchell in a Feb. 7 e-mail.
"I'm a big fan of his music and I said I would be delighted to [ perform a duet with him at the Grammy Awards ] . I know I'm going to get a lot of flak from various people who are going to picket the show. ... I'd rather tear down walls between people than build them up. If I thought for one minute that he was a hateful bastard, I wouldn't do it." -; Elton John to The Los Angeles Times, Feb. 9.
"By agreeing to appear on stage as back-up singer to Eminem at the Grammys, you are spitting on the grave of Matthew Shepard, and every other hate-crime murder victim. ... Your choice is clear: resign from your commitment to appear with Eminem at the Grammys, or go down in history as a gay Uncle Tom who foolishly allowed himself to be used as a tool against his own people." -; From a Feb. 13 open letter to Elton John by activist Robin Tyler.
"To share a stage [ at the Grammy Awards ] with Eminem is completely antithetical to all the work he's done." -; Cathy Renna of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation on Elton John, to the Boston Globe, Feb. 13.
"Eminem's music and his message is a complex thing. To try and shut him down is a big mistake. It's the same thing they [ the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation ] did with Dr. Laura—they got fed up with her and tried to shut her down. I'm not endorsing Eminem, but it's bad news to try and suppress him. GLAAD is more interested in selling tickets to its fundraisers than advancing gay people. They don't want to confront messages anymore, they just want to shut things off, and I've got a problem with that." -; New York City activist Bill Dobbs to The New York Post, Feb. 13.
"I like Eminem. I think he's too smart to be homophobic, and what he's doing is more of a cultural analysis. I think GLAAD has been misguided in its protest." -; New York City activist Ann Northrop to The New York Post, Feb. 13.
"From my standpoint, Eminem's got the album of the year. The production is sensational, with lots of melody, and the lyrics are just amazing. He can squeeze so many words into a line, and his rhythmic ability is quite amazing. 'Stan' is a great, brilliant track that has been No. 1 all through Europe. It says everything about something we all go through as artists—dealing with fans being obsessive and crazy. As a gay artist, I'm asked by a lot of people, 'But what about the content of Eminem's music?' I think there is far more humor on the album than people think. It appeals to my English black sense of humor. When I put the album on the first time, I was in hysterics from laughing. We live in an age of political correctness where you can't say this or that. I honestly don't think people will go out and start beating and killing people because of this album." -; Elton John to The Los Angeles Times, Feb. 18.
"What is the big deal about Eminem? Since when is offensive language a reason for being unpopular? I find the language of George W. much more offensive. I find the hypocritical nature of most popular figures in our culture much more offensive. I like the fact that Eminem is brash and angry and politically incorrect. At least he has an opinion. He's stirring things up, he's provoking a discussion, he's making people's blood boil. He's reflecting what's going on in society right now. That is what art is supposed to do. And after all he's just a boy. Thank God he's rebellious and not well-groomed. He gets my vote." -; Madonna to The Los Angeles Times, Feb. 18.
"I don't agree necessarily with every single thing that Eminem is saying—I may not even agree with a lot of it, but he's a valid artist. 'Stan' is a great song. Rap to me is a modern blues ... a statement of how and where people are at. For someone to say, this is a disgrace to the Grammys, come on. There was a time when blues was called a disgrace. I think art is a reflection of our society, and people don't like to confront the realities in society. We dance forever around the issues, and [ embrace ] songs about unity and love. But until we really confront the truth, we are going to have a Tupac or Eminem or Biggie Smalls to remind us about it—and thank God. They force people to look at realities in society. That doesn't mean their reflection is my reflection. If someone wants to use a sample of one of my songs in a record that talks about women as 'hos,' I won't let them. That doesn't mean I don't like the rapper or that I don't think some of the stuff isn't funny. It's just not who I am musically." -; Stevie Wonder to The Los Angeles Times, Feb. 18.
"Most of the people I mix with at the moment aren't straight. I was so excited when I met someone in LA but I found out he was gay too—it's difficult." -; Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell as quoted by Gay.com UK, Feb. 9.
"I can't think of anything worse if you were a young woman than having your mother talk about your personal life." -; Lynne Cheney, wife of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, when asked about their lesbian daughter Mary by The New York Times, Feb. 6.
"Even homophobes like me endorsed same-sex unions in Vermont. We want all the gays to move there. If they're going to, uh, uh-;better in thick wooded areas where-;you know." -; The Richard Fish character on TV's Ally McBeal, Feb. 5.
"Congress once said blacks couldn't marry whites. Love that Congress. Sex offenders can marry, murderers, cannibals can take the vow, but, whoa, whoa!-; two gay people, there goes the sanctity. Look, your honor, I read the Book of Virtues, I get it, and I'll stand up and defend every person's right to be an indefensible bigot. I'm one. But let's at least be honest. This is bigotry. Blatant. It's a government trying to impose its own sense of morality. And this is exactly what happens when you have politicians who start conforming their views to what the people think, because, let's face it, as for the people in this country, too many redneck, inbred idiots. Where else do people take high-powered rifles with sophisticated scopes, walk into the woods, blow the head off a deer, and go, 'Sport!'" -; The Richard Fish character on TV's Ally McBeal, Feb. 5.
