Pictured Mia Kirshner as Jenny in The L Word. Photo by Carole Segal/©Showtime.
'Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage.' — U.S. President George W. Bush in his state of the Union speech Jan. 20, 2004.
'President Bush spiced up Tuesday's State of the Union speech by tossing a bone, if not a garter belt and a Bible, to his conservative base, which is up in arms over the thought that gay people may soon have the right to legally tie and untie the knot—and thus make a mockery of the sacred institution that Britney and Jason are such big fans of. He did this by tiptoeing up to the edge of saying 'I do' to supporting a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the exclusive province of heterosexual couples.' — Conservative commentator Arianna Huffington.
'The president's connubial rhetoric came on the heels of last week's White House announcement of the 'Healthy Marriage' initiative aka 'The Leave No Bride Behind Act.' The president plans to spend $1.5 billion ... . Federal dollars will also be earmarked for mentoring programs that use married couples as role models. Here's a suggestion: Why not start with conservative icons such as Bob Dole, Newt Gingrich and Phil Gramm? They can all tearfully testify how much those ads might have meant in their own unsuccessful attempts to keep a marriage together. ... We have 12 million uninsured children, record-breaking $500 billion deficits, unfinished business in Afghanistan and Iraq, porous ports and vulnerable airports, and every state in the union cutting back on vital social programs, and the president wants to spend precious resources convincing young people that marriage is better than shacking up? Just whom is he protecting here? Aside from his own electoral backside.' — Huffington.
'The very people who have been complaining for decades that government programs are not the way to fight the war on poverty are now determined to use federal tax dollars to fight the war for matrimonial bliss.' — Huffington. You can e-mail her at arianna@ariannaonline.com .
'I couldn't imagine doing a sexy sex scene. I hate to shatter the illusion. It's still a job. It depends who you're working with. Sometimes there's a great deal of intimacy, sometimes I am thinking about doing my laundry or calling my friends.' — Actress Mia Kirshner who plays Jenny Schecter on Showtime's The L Word, to New York's Newsday, Jan. 5.
'A cross between 'Sex and the City' and a Budweiser ad, 'The L Word' features women sitting around the table at a restaurant, tartly dishing about dating, grooming and getting pregnant. But with these very unflannel 'lezzies,' the search for 'fresh meat' and 'new blood' is confined to one sex, babies come through sperm-in-a-cup, the waxing discussions are even raunchier, and the weary, worldly bon mots are along the lines of 'Lesbians think friendship's another word for foreplay.'' — Columnist Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, Jan. 8.
'Shopping is my cardio!' — Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Carson Kressley when asked, 'What type of workout keeps you in shape?' by BravoTV.com .
'The overwhelming evidence is that there is very significant, substantial genetic component to it. From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people.' — Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean to the Washington Post, Jan. 8.
'My view of Christianity ... is that the hallmark of being a Christian is to reach out to people who have been left behind. So I think there was a religious aspect to my decision to support civil unions.' — Howard Dean to the Washington Post, Jan. 8.
'I think the law of equal protection requires to afford rights to people. Whether you call it [same-sex unions] marriage or not is up for grabs, but you have to have the rights. ... I think marriage is a term that kind of gets in the way of this discussion. But there is a distinction between church-sanctioned marriage and what rights the states give. A state itself can afford different rights. The rights is what's critical. It's equal protection under the law that is at stake here.' — Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry during the Jan. 6 candidates debate in Des Moines, Iowa.
'I'm not for gay marriage. I think the answer here is civil unions. Some states, like Howard's, have done that. And if states decide to do that, because this is state question, I think the federal government ought to conform the laws.' — Former Democratic presidential candidate Dick Gephardt during the Jan. 6 debate in Des Moines.
'It's hard for me to see the difference between civil unions and marriage. I do think there's a ground here for recognizing the reality. I know gay and lesbian couples that have long-term, mutually committed relationships. We have to find some way to protect their rights in those relationships: one is ill, the other has a right to visit them; they have other kinds of rights in that relationship. Maybe domestic-partnership laws may be the way to do it.' — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Lieberman during the Jan. 6 debate in Des Moines.
'I have a difficult time calling anything evil. That anyone would use terms such as 'evil empire' and 'axis of evil' betrays a state of such profound ignorance, it's truly frightening.' — Gay actor Sir Ian McKellen to the Vancouver Sun, Jan. 9.
'I'm now called a gay activist and I quite like the label. It sounds rather important— more important than just being an actor— don't you think? No one ever thinks actors have anything important to contribute, and for the most part, that assumption is entirely correct, myself included. We can all be incredibly self-absorbed—mostly out of insecurity. I think a lot of people become actors because they are insecure, and acting teaches you how to hide your insecurities. You appear relaxed and in control. I'm past those demons now. I think you have to move past them in order to really take risks, and that's what acting demands. Also, coming out was a huge relief from that dreadful, stressful sense of lying—or not being completely honest with the people around you. All that angst is gone now.' — Gay actor Sir Ian McKellen to the Vancouver Sun, Jan. 9.
'We can all be woefully self-indulgent— any person—but as a celebrity that behavior is enabled by the media. There's a whole machine out there waiting for every utterance, the way prophets waited on the word of God. It's really quite silly, but when you have something you feel is important to say, at least you can be sure people will hear it. And that's how I feel about my role as gay activist. I remember what it was like growing up gay, and thinking I didn't belong, and if I can make a difference to some young soul by simply embracing what I am, who I am, ... it all seems to work out.' — Sir Ian McKellen to the Vancouver Sun, Jan. 9.
'Medicine is in its infancy, so you take it with a grain of salt. Thoughts create reality and we have amazing power to heal ourselves. Every seven years, every single cell in your body is totally new. What does that mean? With meditation and conscious awareness, you can steer yourself. You can affect your health in a negative way or in a positive way. ... It doesn't mean you don't take medicine, you do—but you can accelerate the healing. Sometimes if you are strong enough in your thought processes, you can replace a lot of medications. Don't fall into the trap of believing what they tell you is the status quo.' — Singer Gloria Estefan to the AIDS magazine A&U, December 2003 issue.
'What I said in 2000 was that the question of whether or not some sort of status, legal status or sanction, ought to be granted in the case of a relationship between two individuals of the same sex was historically a matter the states had decided and resolved and that is the way I preferred it. [But] at this stage, obviously, the president is going to have to make a decision in terms of what administration policy is on this particular provision, and I will support whatever decision he makes.' — Flip-flopping U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to the Denver Post, Jan. 9.
'The fact of the matter is we live in a free society, and freedom means freedom for everybody. And I think that means that people should be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to enter into. It's really no one else's business in terms of trying to regulate or prohibit behavior in that regard. The next step, then, ... is the question you ask of whether or not there ought to be some kind of official sanction, if you will, of the relationship. That matter is regulated by the states. I think different states are likely to come to different conclusions, and that's appropriate. I don't think there should necessarily be a federal policy in this area.' — U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney when asked about same-sex marriage during a year 2000 candidates debate.
