Pictured Sharon Gless in Queer As Folk. Pam Grier in The L Word.
'When Tyne [Daly] and I were accused of being lesbians, I always thought, 'They say that like it's a bad thing.' — Sharon Gless (Queer As Folk) to the Television Critics Association semi-annual gathering in Hollywood, reported in the New York Daily News Jan. 12. She was speaking about their police cop parts in Cagney & Lacey.
'I fought for my character to be as tough as she was. Because I came in as the blonde, and I sort of had to live that down. ... I said, 'Tyne, I think we have a problem here, and I think we have to establish who our characters are.' So I ended up being John Wayne, and it worked out very well. She was the mother and the Mother Earth, and I was the tough one that wore pink.' — Gless.
'This drug is destroying our community. It just seems to be getting worse and worse, and no one is doing anything about it.' — New York City AIDS specialist Howard Grossman on methamphetamine (crystal meth, crank, ice, tina), to The New York Times, Jan. 11.
'As long as they don't say I'm a pedophile I don't care what anyone says about me.' — Boy George to London's The Pink Paper, Jan. 9.
'All people on active duty, even rednecks, know there are gay people serving alongside them. You have a communal shower with 20 or 30 guys in there, chances are one or two of them are gay. There are gays in the special forces. I knew some in Green Berets and Navy SEALS. There are soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan who are out to their unit, and it doesn't impair their combat effectiveness. The unit is okay with it.' — Retired Navy Rear Adm. Alan M. Steinman, to People magazine, Jan. 12.
'Maybe he needs a new version of the Ten Commandments—George W. Bush's Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not steal ... votes. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's ... country. Thou shalt not kill ... for oil. Thou shalt not take grammar in vain. I mean, whatever fucking happened to separation of church and state? I mean, you can't, like, impose your god on my god. God has many names. God is God, God is Jehovah, God is Allah, God is Buddha, God is Beyonce. ... And George W. Bush is coming out with the weirdest stance on same-sex marriage as well. What he says about it is, 'Well, we're all sinners.' No we're not! Just because somebody ate an apple one time does not make us all sinners. And if it was from the tree of knowledge, I think she should have eaten more than one. Possibly even baked a pie. I don't understand the whole same-sex marriage thing. He was quoted by saying, 'Well, you just gotta take the speck out of your own eye before you take the cock out of your neighbor's.'' — Comedian Margaret Cho at a Jan. 13 MoveOn.org event in New York City, according to the Drudge Report.
'He's a very nice man, but I yelled at him. Basically, I said: 'You've got to get some balls and stand up to the Republicans. You have to do what's right and not be frightened off your positions. The American people know the difference between the two parties. How come all of you guys don't?'' — Gay actor Harvey Fierstein to presidential candidate Joe Lieberman in Fierstein's dressing room backstage at Hairspray, Jan. 6, according to The New York Daily News.
'Despite their station among the country's population of 15 million self-identified lesbians, gay men and bisexuals—who have a combined buying power of roughly $485 billion annually—lesbians as a group are generally harder to identify, while at the same time, they're still stereotyped by some as uninterested in style. Subsequently, few major corporations are willing to fund market research on the group, which includes approximately 6.3 million lesbians, with spending clout of approximately $200 billion annually, according to Washington, D.C.-based gay and lesbian marketing specialist Witeck-Combs Communications and Marketresearch.com .' — Women's Wear Daily, Jan. 14, 2004.
'Indeed, there's still an air of flannel shirts and Birkenstocks, baggy jeans and oversized T-shirts, tool belts and pickup trucks as defining currents in the public's predominant perception of lesbian style, marketing executives acknowledged. And that picture is part of a broader misconception that gay women are a group with homogenous tastes, rather than a conglomeration of various subcultures and sensibilities, from lipstick lesbians to bois, a young, aggressive subculture, which has appropriated some attitudes and behaviors signaling a throwback to sexist male roles considered the norm in the Fifties.' — Women's Wear Daily.
'For one thing, lesbians and gays have long been perceived as trend-starting groups. For another, more than a few fashion designers and fashion models themselves are openly homosexual. And although gay male imagery is generally perceived by the broader population as more threatening than lesbian imagery—largely because of the lipstick lesbian fantasy appeal for some straight men —homosexual images of women in ads are far more scarce than those of men.' — Women's Wear Daily.
'Leading zoologist, human behaviour expert and author Desmond Morris has given cautious support to same sex parents, saying he believes a lesbian or gay family unit is unlikely to be 'damaging' to a child. Speaking to the [London] Guardian today, Morris adds that, although a child needs male role models if he has lesbian parents, or vice versa with gay male parents, modern society will provide these in other areas of life.' — Gay.com report Jan. 22.
'After the tourists and the drag queens disappear for the winter, the pace of this Cape Cod village most years slows to a small-town lull. But on a recent afternoon, Dave Schermacher, a caterer here, stared down at a to-do list that spilled over two pages. Mr. Schermacher, who runs PTown Parties, had been busy since 6:30 a.m., already preparing for nine weddings next summer and fall.' — New York Times Jan. 21 on the expected boon to the Massachusetts' economy if same-sex marriages come true this summer. The court's 180-day waiting period ends May 17.
'Wedding providers are not yet scrambling for the last corsage, but in a small town that is 65 congested miles out from the western edge of the cape, a sudden spate of nuptials may pinch the local resources. Photographers, florists and classical musicians—and even sites for big events—are typically in short supply in any case, and book up early.' — The Times on P-Town.
'Have I been a lesbian? No, I don't think it's something you do as a hobby. ... There have been a few gay men that I've been in love with and let me tell you, if they ever, EVER [change sides], I'll be there.' — Actress Pam Grier, who stars in Showtime's new lesbian series The L Word, to Los Angeles' Lesbian News, January issue.