Pictured Rep. Barney Frank. Photo by Tracy Baim
'And, long before he emerged as the spear-carrier for the sort of Catholicism once preached by Gen. Franco and the persecutors of Dreyfus, Mel Gibson attained a brief notoriety for his loud and crude attacks on gays. Now he's become the proud producer of a movie that relies for its effect almost entirely on sadomasochistic male narcissism. The culture of blackshirt and brownshirt pseudomasculinity, as has often been pointed out, depended on some keen shared interests. Among them were massively repressed homoerotic fantasies, a camp interest in military uniforms, an obsession with flogging and a hatred of silky and effeminate Jews. Well, I mean to say, have you seen Mel's movie?' — Christopher Hitchens writing on The Slaton.com about Mel Gibson's The Passion.
'When Bushes get in trouble, they look around for a politically advantageous bogeyman. Lee Atwater tried to make Americans shudder over the prospect of Willie Horton arriving on their doorstep; and now Karl Rove wants Americans to shudder at the prospect of a lesbian—Dick Cheney's daughter Mary, say—setting up housekeeping next door with her wife.'' — Columnist Maureen Dowd, The New York Times, Feb. 26.
'Here's the denouement of the epic drama over gay marriage. It's going to happen, it's going to happen within a generation, and it's going to happen even though George W. Bush teed off his re-election campaign this week by calling for a constitutional amendment to outlaw it. As the country has now had weeks to digest, it has already happened in bulk in San Francisco, where images of couples waiting all night in the rain to be wed finally wiped Janet Jackson off our TV screens. The first of those couples, Phyllis Lyon, 79, and Del Martin, 83, were celebrating a partnership of 51 years. Take that, heterosexual marriage! The most famous practitioner of mixed-sex nuptials this year, Britney Spears, partook of a Vegas marriage that clocked in at 55 hours.' — Columnist Frank Rich, The New York Times, Feb. 29.
'Spanish is funny that way. You can mimic and fool an English-speaking audience into believing that you're a spicy, flamboyant boy wonder, but back in the Latin Americas there's no room for flamboyant pizzazz. It's pretty cut-and-dried/straight or gay—My mom took one look at Ricky [Martin's Spanish-language music video], shook her head, and said, 'Pobrecito,' meaning 'poor thing.'' — Columnist Paulo Murillo in Los Angeles' fab!, Feb. 27.
'Some queer celebrities try so hard that they're all about smoke and mirrors. They do jazz hands, cartwheels and jumping jacks. They surround themselves with legit heteros, and say just about anything to distract you from their sparkle-magic fairy wings—I believe in fairies and I believe that Justin Timberlake is Tinker Bell incarnate. Remove the black posse and the wanna-be Ebonics beat-boxin', chizzle-wizzle-izzle nonsense, and you gotz yourself not much more than a polished bleach-blond nelly queen with a high-pitched voice who dates pretty, popular virgin whores to hide the fact that he's, um, 'sweet.'' — Columnist Paulo Murillo in Los Angeles' fab!, Feb. 27.
'Beloved American patriot Jerry Falwell recently announced that he will devote the remainder of his Godly life to advocating a Constitutional amendment banning marriage between people of the same gender. The United States Department of Faith supports Mr. Falwell's desire to impose Biblical edicts on Americans of all faiths by converting the Constitution from a document that restricts the power of government into one that limits the so-called freedoms of individuals. Nevertheless, the Department of Faith also recognizes that the Bible is replete with verses restricting marriage in many ways, not merely as relates to Mr. Falwell's infatuation with men licking each other. As such, the USDOF has delivered to the President and each member of the U.S. Congress the following proposal to incorporate Biblical restrictions on marriage into our Christian nation's otherwise embarrassingly flawed and secular Constitution.' — See the satire at www.whitehouse.org/dof/marriage.asp
'Here is a simple six-point plan for becoming the 44th president of the United States. One. You may share JFK's initials, but you need to campaign with RFK's passion. The night Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, you were on a ship coming home from Vietnam. And you have often talked about his legacy on the campaign trail, about politics as something more than 'the art of the probable—tinkering around the edges without any greater vision.' ... Two. Don't pick a VP by looking at the map. Pick someone who can help you bring soul back to American politics and appeal not just to our self-interest but to our better instincts. In other words, do not pick Evan Bayh. ... Three. Don't fall back on the tried-and-untrue swing voter strategy that has led to the prolonged identity crisis of the Democratic Party. ... Four. Don't run away from your voting record. Don't run away, as you did in the New York debate, from being called a liberal. Embrace it, and define it as the foundation of the great breakthroughs in American history. ... Five. Remember: He who controls the language defines the political debate. ... Six. Strike a new bargain with the American people. Tell them, 'Let's put an end to the tyranny of low expectations. You can expect a lot more of me, and I will ask a lot more of you.'' — Arianna Huffington in a column written as a letter to Sen. John Kerry.
'Mr. Speaker, I think it was highly inappropriate for Justice Scalia to go on a hunting trip with Vice President Cheney when he was a defendant in a case, but it is inaccurate to say that this calls into question Justice Scalia's impartiality. You cannot call into question that which does not exist. Questioning Justice Scalia's impartiality is like questioning Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's sense of propriety, or Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, or the President's plan to cut the budget deficit in half in 5 years. In fact, if you read Justice Scalia's opinions, they are singularly devoid of impartiality. Here is a man of very vigorous views and prejudices, and he does not see any reason why he should not write them into various opinions. So, I guess in some ways this is a defense of Justice Scalia. I wish he had refrained from going on that hunting trip with the Vice President, but those who accuse him of having damaged his impartiality, he has a defense of that, well-known to lawyers, it is a defense of impossibility.' — Openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
'With allies in the White House and both houses of Congress, gay marriage opponents want the issue decided in Washington. But it appears we are embarking on 50 national conversations, not one. Following the lead of Vermont, which has civil unions, and Massachusetts, other states will weigh what rights to accord same-sex couples, and how to treat marriages and unions from other states. When the federal government does act, it is likely that, as with the Supreme Court's 1967 ruling on interracial marriage, it will be to lift up those states that failed to give all their citizens equal rights.' — New York Times March 7 editorial.
'This debate follows the same narrative arc as women's liberation, racial integration, disability rights and every other march of marginalized Americans into the mainstream. Same-sex marriage seems destined to have the same trajectory: from being too outlandish to be taken seriously, to being branded offensive and lawless, to eventual acceptance.' — The Times.
'Testing the law is a civil rights tradition: Jim Crow laws were undone by blacks who refused to obey them. Visible protests of questionable laws can, as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in 'Letter From Birmingham Jail,' 'dramatize' an issue so 'it can no longer be ignored.' The mayors have succeeded in dramatizing the issue. But for them to defy court orders requires a far greater crisis than is present here. If courts direct officials not to perform gay marriages, they should not.' — The Times.
'Calling marriage one of the 'basic civil rights of man,' the Supreme Court ruled in 1967 that Virginia had to let interracial couples marry. Thirty-seven years from now, the reasons for opposing gay marriage will no doubt feel just as archaic, and the right to enter into it will be just as widely accepted.' — The Times.
'Good day, i am frankie white, a nigerian by birth, 25 years of age and an ambitious gay practitioner. we have a group of us that are gay in some of the cities of nigeria, and knowing a few of ourselves we try as much to protect each others interest. in nigeria, this practise is a sort of taboo and is not allowed or freely practised so we hide under the shadows of our wings. i and my boy friends are over zealous to be professionals in this field and therefore will need your guidance and assistance. ... we have formed a non governmental organisation (NGO) that will champion the cause of gay in nigeria. Since we are students, we are appealing for funds to help in hiring of lawyers, office equipments like computers, fax machines, creating awareness, organising workshops, seminars etc. Sir, we know you not gonna let us down as we all have a common interest.' — E-mail received by this column Feb. 25 and sent to the spam folder by SpamAssassin software. An authentic plea or the latest fascinating African e-mail scam?
