"Dr. Laura is becoming our generation's Anita Bryant. Let's hope she has the same good effects on things." — San Francisco reader Jeff Barbose in a Feb. 17 e—mail to this column.
"My ultimate objective is to help create a society where people no longer define themselves as gay, straight and bisexual. When all three orientations are deemed equally valid and all intolerance is eradicated, there will be no need to differentiate between people of different sexualities. True queer liberation is when nobody cares who's hetero, homo or bi; when we can love whoever we want—man or woman—without fear of ostracism, prejudice, discrimination or violence." — British gay leader Peter Tatchell ( of OutRage! fame ) to www.gaytoday.badpuppy.com, Feb. 3.
"Everybody looks for faint hope in these crappy [ HIV ] drugs that are out there thinking that they're going to get people through. What we're saying today is they're not, and there isn't any good news, and you've got to be scared again. And it's only fear that's going to get people off their duff." — Activist Larry Kramer in a Jan. 7 interview at http://my.webmd.com/
"There is absolutely no question whatsoever that protease inhibitors have helped people. But they've probably hurt more people than they've helped. That's why it's complicated. The people for whom benefit has been proven beyond a doubt are really sick people who would have died without them three years ago. But the target population for the drug companies are the healthy people, and those people will almost certainly have their lives shortened by these drugs." — Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, cofounder of the American Foundation for AIDS Research, to Gear magazine, March issue.
"While I support continuation of existing laws, which define marriage as between a man and a woman, I oppose punitive efforts to use this issue to divide Americans or to deny gays and lesbians rights and benefits. That is why I strongly support legal protections for domestic partnerships, and applaud the Vermont Supreme Court's decision that gay couples must be granted the same benefits and protections given married couples of the opposite sex. A strong message of non—discrimination and equality is inherent in the court's decision that the constitutional imperative is to afford all Vermonters the common benefit, protection and security of the law, regardless of gender. I will do my part as your president to make sure the civil law is applied equally and fairly." — Al Gore in a one—on—one interview with the gay paper Texas Triangle.
"I don't pretend to have an understanding of homosexuality that sustains a discussion of its roots ... but I do not believe it is simply an acceptable alternative that society should affirm." — Al Gore to the Nashville Tennessean newspaper in 1984 when he was running for U.S. Senate.
"I do not support gay rights." — Bill Bradley in 1978 during his first campaign for the U.S. Senate.
"Despite the paint and tofu throwing by anti—fur protesters that interrupted the New York collections, Ingrid Newkirk, the London based director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which took responsibility, maintains that her organization's war on fur is more or less over. She said that starting today, it will begin a new chapter, with a battle against leather. 'This is akin to the environmental movement's launch on toxins years ago," Ms. Newkirk said. 'The new fur war is the leather war,' she added. 'There's far more leather than fur on the catwalk.'" — From an article at www.nytimes.com/library/style/021500front—row.html
"The Millennium March on Washington ... will not only serve notice to those in political power that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people exist, but that we are serious about participating in our democracy. Marching on the Capitol in an election year is a good move. Because politics is about strength in numbers, the Millennium March represents a key opportunity to energize and mobilize our community for the 2000 elections. Certainly, we wear political stripes of all sorts—the often discordant process of planning the march itself is a testament to our intellectual diversity—but all candidates, Democrat and Republican, must hear our voices." — Powerbroker David Mixner.
"Very soon ... a federal judge may order your child's school ... to accept gay student clubs. ... My objections may or may not be polite, or persuasive, but at least they will be honest. ... This is what I want my sons to believe. I suspect I'm not alone. Men and women are in some way made for each other. Gender is not an accident or purely a social construct; it is part of who we are as human beings. There is a deep, rich, mysterious purpose to sex, calling us out of the bond of our limited selves into a physical, moral, emotional, erotic union, which includes the possibility of generating new life—a.k.a. marriage. Some people say they lack the desire that makes realizing this rich sexual story possible. If this is true, homosexuality is not necessarily a mental illness, but a sexual disability. In practical terms, especially for men, calling yourself gay means adopting a risky lifestyle high in sex partners and all the stupid tricks men without wives do to themselves and others. Men who do not need a woman's sexual love create very different sorts of societies from men who do: Even so staunch an advocate of gay marriage as Andrew Sullivan recently defended 'the beauty and mystery and spirituality' of 'anonymous sex,' and confessed that 'on a personal level, I have never been in a long—term romantic relationship, and am perfectly happy without one.'" — New York Newsday's Maggie Gallagher in The State.
