Self-esteem isn't built by wearing buttless chaps at an all-gay event straight people won't attend. It's bringing a male date to the company picnic. Pride isn't forged because you sit in the back of a convertible wearing a dress. It's earned when you don't let go of your boyfriend's hand, even when you see straight people coming. Self-respect doesn't come because you flash your tits to a drunk crowd. It comes from telling that nice lady sitting next to you on the plane the real reason why some young man hasn't snatched you up yet." — Columnist Michael Alvear, Houston Voice, June 23.
"I sat through last Saturday's Pride march, and the only word that comes to mind is this: yawn. I've seen C-SPAN broadcasts that were more entertaining and energized. The parade was small, well organized for that type of affair, and chock full of family values and corporate advertising." — Jeff Epperly, editor of the Boston gay newspaper Bay Windows, in a June 15 editorial.
"When my husband was in prison and I wasn't getting any presents for Christmas, it was the gay community that gathered around me and saw that. They gave me beautiful bathrobes with my initials on; they gave beautiful leopard hangers and leopard shoe bags. And I had the most awesome Christmas I've ever had. They'd write to me, and I'd write back to them, and we would talk about our animals, and they would name all their dogs Tammy Faye. It was so cute! I still write all these guys! They cared about me more than the Christians cared about me, and that says something to me right there." — Former televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker Messner to The Advocate, July 18.
"RuPaul is so cute when he dresses up. But what makes me so mad is that he looks better in those gowns than I do!" — Tammy Faye Bakker.
"I'm having assimilation anxiety. How can I keep doing this subcultural comic strip in a world where there's no more subculture? ... I don't want to be one of those people who gets, like, stuck in their outmoded politics. I really don't want to sound like this shiny old leftover." — Dykes To Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel to The Advocate, July 18.
"Recently, we have received a great deal of feedback—some positive, mostly negative— regarding our advertising on the 'Dr. Laura Schlessinger' radio program. Most of the negative feedback has been from the gay and lesbian community, which finds many of Dr. Laura's comments concerning sexual orientation to be highly offensive and prejudicial. GEICO is and has been an insurer for everyone. To reach all audiences, we advertise in a wide range of media. We do not endorse the views expressed by the personalities on whose shows we advertise, but we do monitor the results of these advertising efforts closely, and we take seriously the feedback we receive from our policyholders and the listening and viewing public. Having analyzed these factors, we have decided we will not continue our advertising on the 'Dr. Laura' radio program effective July 1. GEICO is an equal opportunity employer and does not condone discrimination of any type directed toward any minority." — Statement from the Geico car insurance company, July 6.
"On Wednesday, July 5th, I was shocked to learn that the Episcopal Church, of which I'm a member and in which I was married, does not have an official national church policy allowing ministers to officiate at same sex unions or ordain openly gay people. Allowing each Diocese to determine whether or not to ordain gays and lesbians or bless same gender couples on a local level, rather then making a church wide decision, I feel is tantamount to accepting and supporting discrimination. Based on this indecision of the Episcopal Church, to fully accept all persons into the Christian faith, I must in good conscience cancel my performance at the Episcopal Church General convention." — Singer Judy Collins, July 7.
"I came out [ in 1992 ] and it was like, nothing. Nothing happened. It was fine. I think everybody knew anyway, but I felt good being able to talk about it and not be afraid." — The B-52's Keith Strickland to Atlanta's Southern Voice, June 22.
"I get passed over now because I wasn't famous first [ before I ] came out. For someone to lie about it for years and years, get famous, get the accolades, get the money, get the record contract, get the television show, get the movies, and then they come out—I'm thrilled. But it's very painful then to watch the gay community —the gay press—canonize them." — Comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer to Atlanta's Southern Voice, June 22.
"I've fought really hard against that [ the label gay writer ] , you know? I don't want to be in that section of the book store ... because then the understanding is if you're not gay you would have no interest in this." — David Sedaris to Atlanta's Southern Voice, June 22.
" [ I want to become ] the Artist Formerly Known as a Lesbian." — Ellen DeGeneres on being overly identified with her sexuality, to The Chicago Tribune, July 12.
"If I had enough money to never work again, I'd probably just work with kids and animals and eat salads at the Four Seasons, fly in a private jet maybe to an island that I owned, have a bunch of dancers that would dance for me whenever I demanded, and play Boggle. That's what I'd do." — Ellen DeGeneres to the Chicago Tribune.
"'What a man believes upon grossly insufficient evidence,' Bertrand Russell wrote, 'is an index to his desires—desires of which he himself is often unconscious.' The Vatican's current obsession with homosexuality suggests that something interesting might be going on. Are some of the Catholic church's most powerful cardinals struggling with their sexuality? Could the Pope himself be gay?" — George Monbiot writing in Britain's The Guardian, July 13.
"The claim that homosexuality is 'unnatural' ... Perhaps the Pope is suggesting that it lies beyond the scope of 'normal' human behaviour. If so, this has uncomfortable implications for an association of old men who wear dresses, hear voices and practise ritual cannibalism. ... Self-enforced celibacy ... is all but unknown among other animal species. If any sexual behaviour is out of tune with the natural world, it is surely that of the priesthood." — George Monbiot writing in Britain's The Guardian, July 13.
"Real estate appreciation, for all intents and purposes, is an irreversible trend. The best we can hope for is a plateau. Sorry, kids, but an earthquake isn't going to bring back those $300 Victorian apartments remembered so fondly by longtime residents. San Francisco, for all its diversity and opportunity, is over. If there were an earthquake, I'm certain of one thing. Four competing Internet startups would emerge, selling e-shovels. It's gotten that sick." — Syndicated gay-press columnist Kirk Read in a mid-July filing.
"I want to focus on nice humor. Everything is so sarcastic now and mean-spirited and kind of bitter and jaded. ... It's got to swing the other way. Listen, if bell-bottoms can come back in, then nice humor can come back." — Ellen DeGeneres to USA Today, July 21.
"I don't see stopthepope.com, do you?" — Dr. Laura Schlessinger to The New York Times, April 24.
"All the best-looking men are gay." — Novelist Jackie Collins to Genre magazine, August issue.
