"Everyone says to me, 'Your mother being who she is, it must have been easy [ coming out to her ] .' But she had more difficulty with it than my dad." — Christopher Rice, 22, son of novelist Anne Rice, to The Advocate, Aug. 29.
"Some of the questions [ about my qualifications for the job ] are just based in misogyny—of course you wouldn't have a woman of color be actually qualified for a job, like that was the only reason I would get it. I look at all of that as an opportunity for the movement to have some very important discussions about what our values are. It's one of the reasons that I wanted to turn my full-time attention from the feminist movement to the GLBT movement—or as I often like to call it, the LGBT movement—because I think especially in recent years, the movement has been engaged in a dialogue over what our core principles are, and that's very, very important because we're going to be making decisions that aren't easily reversible. My perspective is that we need to embrace a very progressive politic. We need to include a wide range of issues that many perhaps wouldn't traditionally think of as gay issues, but that in fact are very key and important to many people's lives within the GLBT community. I want to be a part of that dialogue, so when somebody raises these issues even in a negative or in what is intended to be a hurtful way, I look at it as an opportunity for all us to engage the questions and to try to figure out what we all as a community want to achieve and how we're going to get there." — National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Elizabeth Toledo to Florida's Contax Guide, Aug. 10. The NGLTF board was criticized when they hired Toledo because she had been out-of- the-closet for less than one year. Some critics said the board was so keen to hire a lesbian of color that they ignored her lack of experience as an out homosexual.
"Saab has an important audience and customer base in the gay and lesbian community, and it would hardly be our intention to offend this audience by appearing to support Dr. Laura's points of view. Our agency has been instructed to pull any Saab radio spots from the Dr. Laura show, and that we will not place any further advertising on the show." — Dan Chasins, president of Saab USA, in an Aug. 23 statement. Because of her anti-gay statements, Laura also has been dumped by American Express, Amica Insurance, AT&T, Box.com, DISH Network, EchoStar, Gateway, Geico, Kraft, Kroger, Motel 6, the Ohio State Lottery, Priceline.com, Procter & Gamble, Radio Shack, Red Lobster, Sears, SkyTel, TCF Bank, ToysRUs, United Airlines and Xerox, reports www.stopdrlaura.com .
"She just called me up and asked me out." — Singer k.d. lang on how she connected with lover Leisha Hailey, to Portland, Oregon's Just Out, Aug. 4.
"It's probably the biggest challenge of my life, staying with one person." — k.d. lang on monogamy with lover Leisha Hailey, to Portland, Oregon's Just Out, Aug. 4.
"This past week in the U.S. House of Representatives was an incredible one for the LGBT community. A majority of the House, including 41 Republicans, voted in support of hate-crimes legislation .... I am a lead sponsor of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and I worked with members from both sides of aisle to build support for the hate crimes provision in the months leading up to this vote. We were able to get this vote over the strong objections of the Republican leadership by using a procedural tactic that did not have to be 'cleared' through House leadership first.
"Regrettably, our successful strategy on hate crimes was met with a last-minute trick, pulled by the Republican leadership, relating to the Boy Scouts of America ( BSA ) and their discriminatory practices against gay men who want to be involved in scouting. Originally, the Republican leadership had scheduled a vote on a resolution commending the Boy Scouts. At the last minute, they switched and put forward a resolution revoking the Congressional Charter for the Boy Scouts of America.
"It is important to state that Democrats in the House and LGBT activists around the country are of different minds regarding how to approach the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Boy Scouts of America. Many of us preferred an education and visibility strategy. We wrote to the President asking him to use his position to call for an end to discrimination by resigning his Honorary Chairman position of the BSA. Many of us are also working at the local level. For example, I am working with several Scouting parents to plan local activities in Wisconsin condemning the BSA policy.
"When the Republican leadership scheduled a vote on the Democratic measure, it became clear that it would suffer overwhelming defeat, probably gaining no more than 15 'yes' votes, and up to 420 'no' votes. This vote tally would have sent a horrible message about this very important issue, and would have been a devastating defeat for the LGBT community. It became clear that we could persuade a significant number of House members to take a 'protest' vote if we gave them another option besides voting 'yes' on the resolution. Consequently, the vote was 362 voting 'no,' 12 voting 'yes,' and 51 voting 'present.' Our strategy was to find a way to allow more members to join us in a show of protest against the BSA policy. We thought it important to have over 60 protest votes, and agreed to allow our colleagues the political cover. I would have voted 'yes' if we had not had this alternative option." — Lesbian Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin on her 'present' vote on the resolution in the House to revoke the federal charter of the BSA.
