"When I write I don't do anything except smoke pot, eat, drink and write. I become this completely hedonistic, bohemian, out-of control, raging, abusive writer." — Singer k.d. lang as quoted by Reuters, June 12.
"A combination of that [ being openly lesbian ] and my anti-meat stance has hurt me at radio [ stations ] , because of advertisers. But, I think the heat's off me. Ellen [ DeGeneres ] and Anne [ Heche ] are bearing the brunt right now. I'm like, 'Go, girls, go,' and then I'm kind of free to do whatever I want. I certainly had a lot of pride in coming out, but I always saw it as a secondary thing to who I am or what I am. Maybe it does affect men more. Some men don't want to like or buy my music, maybe because they're afraid it says something about them. I don't know." — Singer k.d. lang to The Los Angeles Times, June 11.
"I think if we call it 'marriage,' we're never going to get anywhere. I think that you're playing with something that is a tradition and an institution to a certain majority of people. Why go there? Create a new language, create a new tradition, then approach the government about tax rights and rights in hospitals. Instead of fitting into something that's not ours, we have to build our own culture. We're historically an alternative and cryptic culture, and to me, that's one of the beautiful parts of being gay. Even though you may not want to live in the closet, it's about being discreet and being private and being a little more romantic." — k.d. lang to The Advocate, June 20.
"I hope some take it and roll down the top of their convertible and drive down PCH. I hope some people fall in love and boink to it. I hope some people cook Sunday breakfast to it. I hope that some people heal their heartbreak from it. I hope people feel love and hope when they listen to it. God, this sounds like a fucking Christian channel or something!" — k.d. lang on her new album, Invincible Summer, to The Advocate, June 20.
"I always assumed I would be with an older writer—or a model. I mean, I'd been dating models! I didn't think I'd be going out with a punk rocker who was ten years younger! We've really just taken it a day at a time, and every day has been great." — k.d. lang on lover Leisha Hailey to The Advocate, June 20.
"Somebody asked me one day if I wanted to be a superstar, and I said 'No.' When you're a superstar, you can't do anything, your life really isn't your own, you have to be 'on' 24/7 ... and I'm not good at that! I'm just plodding along, trying to make a living doing this and hoping that somebody recognizes it." — Singer Martha Wash of Weather Girls fame to Genre magazine, July issue.
"I do resent very much that he took away Marilyn's song and gave it to Diana. Fickle son of a bitch." — Author John Rechy on Elton John to Genre magazine, July issue.
"I love that [ rimming ] . But it has to be the right person. They have to be young if you want a good butt. There's something that's very nice about eating a good, young one." — Famed gay author Edmund White to Genre, July issue.
"I probably have more sex with young men now than I did when I was younger, because either I can buy them now, which I couldn't afford when I was younger, or they're attracted to me because I'm a famous writer, which I wasn't when I was younger." — White to Genre.
"The gay scene is like a port in a storm where you dock for a while. As it's grown bigger and bolder, more body-oriented and looks-oriented, it's become more mercenary. I don't feel that it has much to offer me, but I try not to be too judgmental, because I do feel it has things to give to a younger generation. It's just sad that it can't be a scene that can encompass more shapes and sizes." — Singer Jimmy Somerville to The Advocate, June 20.
"Why, as adults, do transsexuals mutilate their bodies in order to make them conform to the fashionable version of the opposite sex and gender? That only reinforces oppressive stereotypes every bit as much as liposuction or a bimbo's boob job. If you're a man in a woman's body, then live androgynously if you're such a revolutionary. Don't conform." — Advocate columnist Norah Vincent, June 20.
"I am astonished to be told by [ Glasgow, Scotland, Catholic ] Cardinal [ Thomas ] Winning that my sexuality is not good for me. He argues that homosexuality 'ensnares them in a lifestyle that can never respond to the deepest longings of the human heart'. From what practical perspective does he form this point of view? As a Cardinal and presumably a celibate and solitary individual, how can he possibly be in a position to judge? As a gay man I am perfectly happy with my sexuality and my life. I can honestly say that the deepest longings of my heart are satisfied." — Sir Elton John in Britain's The Spectator, June 15.
"I don't look like anyone else on TV. I'm bald, and I have a beard—how often do you see that? And I think they like my theatrics—my devilish sense of fun." — Christopher Lowell, the swishy host of the Discovery channel's home-decorating show, The Christopher Lowell Show, to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 14.
"Every day is my dream job. That I get acknowledged and respected and get to completely express myself in a marketplace where that's almost unheard of. The reward and the goal is what you get to do every single day." — Actress and performer Sandra Bernhard to Cleveland's Gay People's Chronicle, June 9.
"I'm more of a person of the street. I don't live my life like a celebrity. I live my life as a person. I go shopping and I go to the dry cleaner. People see me in my neighborhood." — Bernhard to Gay People's Chronicle.
"I've been openly gay as a comedienne since 1990. But it's like there is a 'pink ceiling,' if you've already been out. The gay community takes you totally for granted. On the other hand, if you are straight first, and then you get to be famous and then you come out, the gay community can't do enough for you." — Comedienne Suzanne Westenhoefer to Cleveland's Gay People's Chronicle, June 9.
"I find her annoying, like a bee. Somebody swat her already." — Suzanne Westenhoefer on Dr. Laura Schlessinger to Cleveland's Gay People's Chronicle, June 9.
"Hundreds of my friends have died before their time [ of AIDS ] . The most profound effect it's had on me is that when I heard that someone had died from a heart attack it was almost like an elation. I was like, 'oh, okay.' Because you just got to the point where you couldn't take one more [ death ] . Couldn't take one more." — Actress Whoopi Goldberg to the AIDS magazines A&U, June issue.
"The whole barebacking movement, I mean, what do you say to somebody who's made that choice? I think the advances in drug treatment have lulled people into a false sense of security. And that's a shame. It's great that scientists are making these advances and that people with HIV and AIDS have a longer and better quality of life. But that shouldn't be a license for people to stop practicing safe sex and think that it's okay to go ahead and contract the disease because it's no longer looked at as a big deal." — Activist Chastity Bono to the AIDS magazine A&U, June issue.
"They follow sports, wear flannel shirts, smoke, drink, belch and make crude jokes. Oh, one other thing. They're gay." — Headline on a article about "regular guy" gays in The San Francisco Weekly, June 21. See the website www.regularguys.org .
"We have vaginas and penises. We were biologically meant to give birth to more people. Not being able to relate normally to a member of the opposite sex is some kind of error. I do not see that as insulting at all. It is a statement of biological fact. ... Some people just don't want to hear the truth. ... I regret that my words were taken out of context, distorted and lied about so people were hurt from the lies. But that's not my action. Any time I was on the air, I had context, clarity and compassion. What is distilled out does not." — Dr. Laura Schlessinger to Time magazine, June 24.