'Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the musical and life partners who won a Tony Award for original score ... [were] engaged in a
passionate, full-frontal liplock as they celebrate their victory at the awards ceremony. The two kicked off a gay lovefest, with a best
actor winner sending a message to his boyfriend from the podium. A best featured actress winner gushed, 'Men kissing each other on
stage. Drag queens. ... It's a perfect world.' I'm sure some diehard homophobes turned off their television sets in disgust and are now
hunkered down somewhere, condemning this open display of homosexual affection. But the remarkable thing is that most people
seemed to celebrate Shaiman and Wittman's moment and weren't upset by the kiss.' — Sheryl McCarthy in New York's Newsday.
'Our newsroom phones rang off the hook ... over the decision to use a picture of Canada's first legally married gay couple on the
front page. Not just any picture, but a picture of Toronto couple Michael Stark and Michael Leshner kissing. We knew going in that the
decision would be controversial. And believe me, there was plenty of discussion in the newsroom ... about whether running the
picture was the right thing to do. Not all of us agreed. What it came down to in the end was a decision based on whether we could
defend using the picture as good journalism. Nothing more. Nothing less. ... [The] photo ... went straight to the heart of the story. This
was, after all, what the story was about. The Ontario Court of Appeal had just given gay couples the right to get dressed up in their
Sunday best, go down to city hall and get married. The kiss is, in effect, the sealing of the deal, just as it is when straight couples say I
do.' — Halifax Herald Assistant Managing Editor Sheryl Grant June 12.
'If it were not for the gay and lesbian community, I would really not have half the career I've had. Throughout the lows in my
career, this community remained loyal, remained faithful, didn't care whether I had a hit record or not. This community supported me,
this community fed me and paid my mortgage by letting me sing in the clubs at three, four o'clock in the morning, by just letting me
support myself and not become a humiliating story on E!' — Singer Jennifer Holliday, best known for Dreamgirls and, recently, Ally
McBeal, to D.C.'s Metro Weekly.
'The one time that I was hurt by the gay and lesbian community was when I first lost weight years ago and suffered a lot of
rejection from them. I got a lot of ugly mail. Not nasty, but in the sense that they felt that I had abandoned them. And my reply back
was, 'Look, I am not about to be big and fat again just so you can feel better about yourselves.'' — Singer Jennifer Holliday to D.C.'s
Metro Weekly, June 5.
'The pride issue of New York City's gay mag Metrosource includes an interview with funny lady Paula Poundstone, who pleaded
guilty in 2001 to felony child endangerment. The interviewer takes a cue from Poundstone's wardrobe-mostly jackets and neckties-to
ask if she is a gay parent. The comedian responds that she's 'a happy single parent' and the last time she 'even experimented with
sex with anyone was probably 15 years ago...so far, neither team has claimed me.' Poundstone adds that she has as little use for sex
as she does for E-mail.' — Out.com .
'Do I believe [Florida Republican Congressman Mark] Foley is gay? In addition to fairly persuasive reports in both the gay press
and, more recently, the Broward edition of New Times, a friend of mine said he was at a social gathering with Foley a few months ago
at which the congressman introduced his partner and said the two of them had been together for more than 19 years. Do I care that
Foley is gay? No. But I do care if he is being a hypocrite. [He] can't hold himself up as a defender of gay rights while at the same time
denounce as 'revolting and unforgivable' questions about whether he is gay.' — Columnist Jim DeFede in the Miami Herald, May 27.
'Don't ask, won't tell.' — St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times columnist Adam Smith June 1 on Florida Republican Congressman and
Senate candidate Mark Foley who recently held a press conference to announce that he is unwilling to say whether he is gay or not.
'Of course he'll date. [His personal life] will be prominent in the sense that, like any other human, he'll want to get together with
others. In fact, the first episode I go out with [Dharma & Greg's] Thomas Gibson. That's a good way to begin. But it's not a show about
being gay. It's not Queer as Folk.'' — Actor Nathan Lane talking about his new TV series, Charlie Lawrence (on CBS), in which he
plays a gay Congressman, to Playbill, May 28.
'From the right [side of the gay spectrum], they're right to criticize us. ... We don't hold ourselves out to be the mainstream,
compromising, apologist organization. ... Our role is to be progressive. ... The reason why I think the Task Force is criticized by the left
[also] is because people ... know that the Task Force actually cares what they say and is listening to them. A lot of other organizations
would be utterly dismissive.' — New National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman in an interview with this
column, May 26.
'I'm ... interested in going after, politically, local legislators and leaders that have launched these anti-gay initiatives. ... We would
set up a PAC and go in and terrify them with a credible challenge. ... We go in, for a modest investment of money, and torture these
people, which would give me endless satisfaction. And the word would go out very quickly, 'You know what, this really isn't worth it.''
— Foreman.
'I don't give a goddamn what that hypocrite Andrew Sullivan has to say.' — Foreman. Sullivan is a right-leaning gay journalist,
commentator and blogger. He declined an invitation to respond to Foreman's remark.
