"[N]ot one of the 26 new [TV] series scheduled by Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC has even one black lead or major supporting player. ... But when you count both new and returning series, there will be 17 gay leads or major cast members on those four major networks. In fact, there are more gay characters featured in the new fall season than all other minorities combined." ¯ Brian Lambert, media critic for the St. Paul [Minnesota] Pioneer Press, Aug. 8.
"We just saw this cloud of smoke coming. ... Then I saw the crowd screaming and running toward me. People were screaming, 'Run, run, run' and 'Get away, get away, get away.' So, obviously, I started running because all these people are running toward me. And then all of a sudden there were tears in my eyes, and it got in my throat. It was pretty nasty. ... Our faces were all red. Some people were vomiting in the street." ¯ Guido Gaietta, a spectator at San Diego's July 24 gaypride parade which was hit with a teargas attack. Hundreds of marchers and spectators were affected.
"What I've done is brought sexuality back to men over 35 as far as being represented on film. Being over 40 and being a vibrant, active man. I'm an HIVpositive man who has done the unthinkable. I'm living my life. I'm having a ball. I'm not living to die. I'm living to live, and I'm not afraid to die. I'm afraid not to live." ¯ Gay porn superstar Cole Tucker to Boston's Bay Windows, July 29.
"Oh, please! Let's get real. The issue¯ the real, bottomline issue here¯is that for once a small group of extremists is not dominating the March or imposing their views on the grassroots. Every segment of our community should be¯must be!¯part of this broad and diverse March. But no segment should dominate, saying that they represent their mythical version of the grassroots." ¯ Millennium March on Washington Executive Producer Robin Tyler in an Aug. 5 open letter attacking critics of the April 30, 2000, event.
"The LGBT press is similar to the mainline press: both love controversy. Controversy sells. My perception is that too many in the LGBT press have printed lies and myths and unsubstantiated allegations about the March on Washington, 'just because' somebody says them, 'just because' if they come from someone perceived as an oppressed victim they must be assumed to be telling the truth. I'm tired of myths and untruths that continue to appear 'just because... just because... just because.' ... Will I be fired for this response? Possibly. For in politics, telling the truth has become the 'low road.' But at this point, with or without me, this 4th national March on Washington will take place on April 30, 2000. Why? Because our community wants it. And that's good enough for me." ¯ Robin Tyler.
"Robin implies that organizing previous marches were not democratic. No organizing structure that aspires to speak for an entire community can ever be perfect. However, the three previous marches were committed to democratic principles. The MMOW is not. In the past community activists held national meetings before calling for the march. MMOW did not. ... During [a] March äš« meeting, and a second national meeting in May, dozens of proposals and concerns were discussed by hundreds of activists. ... This was not done for the MMOW. It was decided by a small group, including Robin Tyler, Elizabeth Birch, and Troy Perry that there would be a national mobilization of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities on April 30, 2000 and it would be called the Millennium March on Washington for Equality. The discussion of whether to march or not and what a march would compete with was never on the table. It was a done deal." ¯ Billy Hileman, publisher of Pittsburgh's Planet Q newspaper, a member of the Ad Hoc Committee for an Open Process and a National CoChair for the äš March on D.C.
"We have a really serious issue in the U.S., and most people are scared to address it because when they do, they are made to feel evil and bad. I know. I am routinely excoriated for having a different opinion. So I understand how difficult it is to stand up for heterosexual marriage. But if we don't, pretty soon what we commonly understand and cherish as 'family' will be gone. There are two events I want to bring to your attention. One involves the U.S. president, who proclaimed June the month of 'celebrating homosexuality.' I think he must be nuts. He designated a whole MONTH to celebrate this? You only get a DAY if you're Irish. Right? ... President Clinton's proclamation said that businesses, families and all of us should 'celebrate' the fact that some people cannot or will not mate with members of the opposite sex, be married and have children. In my opinion, that is not something to celebrate. It's very sad, and I have great compassion for homosexuals.
"Here comes No. 2: human rights campaign leader Elizabeth Birch and her partner, Hilary Rosen, who is a lobbyist for the Recording Industry Association of America, recently adopted male and female twins, born Jan. 7 in Texas. There is no specific legislation in the state of Maryland, where they live, that prohibits placing children in homosexual households. The two women have proudly announced that the children will be raised by nannies. Do we not have sufficient empirical evidence that fatherless homes are not the best environment for raising children? And these particular babies aren't even going to have an attentive mother, either! How could any adoption agency give twins to two lesbians who don't even want to care for them when there are heterosexual, committed couples waiting for babies ... ?" ¯ Radio and print columnist "Dr." Laura.
Copyright © 1999 Lambda Publications Inc. All rights reserved.
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