'Images of Iraqi prisoners being tortured have shocked the world because of their brutality but also because of their overt sexuality. Not only were the men forced to strip naked; they had to engage in real or simulated acts of anal intercourse and masturbation. The American military's continuing homophobia is not news, but employing homophobia as a military tactic reaches new levels of perversity. Gay men witnessing the use of homosexuality as the interrogators' ultimate tool of degradation at Abu Ghraib now have another reason to abhor the Bush administration. Because 'gay' implies an identity and a culture, in addition to describing a sexual act, it is difficult for a gay man in the West to completely understand the level of disgrace endured by the Iraqi prisoners. But in the Arab world, the humiliating techniques now on display are particularly effective because of Islam's troubled relationship with homosexuality. This is not to say that sex between men does not occur in Islamic society—the shame lies in the gay identity rather than the act itself.' — Author Patrick Moore writing in Newsday May 7.
'FIRST, I'D say that the political turmoil that has accompanied the current debate on same-sex couples illustrates the deeply conservative agenda and hetero-normal practices of the U.S. Just take a look at Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's response ... to the hundreds of same-sex couples that went to San Francisco for certificates of marriage. It was a wonderful expression of love, but from the governor's comments, some viewed this gathering as a catalyst for riots.' — Political activist and open lesbian Angela Davis to Chicago's N'Digo magazine.
'LIKE WOMEN and Blacks, gays have now been demonized as the garbage of our society. When one is denied certain civil rights and liberties, it becomes easier to distance ourselves from them and their cries for help. We have hierarchies of participation in our democracy and without civil liberties, one is already relegated to societal death. We fail to acknowledge the extent of this world's common humanity. We are not as different from one another as we pretend. Why is it that we have such a hard time imagining community for people in prison and our connection to that community? We tend to think the inhabitants of prisons are mostly rapists and murderers because it's a way of distancing ourselves. Short of war, mass incarceration has been the most thoroughly implemented social program of our time. Today, prisons are sites into which undesirables are deposited.' — Davis to N'Digo.
'Christian right leader, Randall Terry, has a troubled gay son. Dick Cheney has an untroubled gay daughter. Anti-gay crusader Pete Knight has a gay son. Charles Socarides, the chief proponent of reparative therapy for homosexuals, has a gay son. Phyllis Schlafly has a gay son. When will these people begin to understand that being gay is not a 'choice'; it's a fact of human nature?' — Gay journalist Andrew Sullivan writing on his blog, andrewsullivan.com, April 14.
'According to some historians, rumors that circulated 150 years ago were accurate: [U.S. Vice President William Rufus De Vane] King and James Buchanan, who years later would become the nation's 15th president, were a devoted homosexual couple.' — Associated Press news reporter Jay Reeves, April 17.
'It's about time I made a record for the boys really, isn't it? ... I think there will be people dancing around their handbags to this one. The gay clubs will love this one.' — Singer George Michael on his new album track Flawless, to England's Magic FM, April 15.
'It's hard to believe in the year 2004, with Americans being killed in Iraq, with civilians killed in Madrid, that these despicable assholes would conjure up the sanctity-of-marriage blather. This is a nonissue promulgated by thieves and religious zealots to imprison contemporary people in the prison of the medieval mind. They should just call it the Mel Gibson amendment.' — Singer Lou Reed denouncing the proposed U.S. constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, to The Advocate, April 27.
'We—along with thousands of other lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender people will be at March for Women's Lives this Sunday. Why? For the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, there are four overlapping reasons for our enthusiastic and unqualified participation. First, the obvious: we march because like everyone else, LGBT people need, deserve, and demand the fundamental right to control our bodies without the interference of government. This is the bedrock upon which our movement exists. Our individual and family needs are inextricably linked with all other Americans—we love and have sex; women in our community get pregnant, need the assistance of fertility clinics to do so, or choose or need to end a pregnancy; both men and women in our community choose to—or choose not to—have children. ... Second, we march because the constitutional right of gay people to have private, consensual sex is inextricably linked to preserving Roe v. Wade. If Roe falls, so does the Supreme Court's recent Lawrence v. Texas, decision, which struck down consensual sodomy laws. The long line of Supreme Court rulings upholding and extending reproductive freedom—Griswold, Eisenstad, Roe, and Planned Parenthood v. Casey—all based on the concept of privacy and personal liberty—are the legal foundation upon which Lawrence is based. Plain and simple: without these decisions we would not have Lawrence; conversely, if Roe is overturned, there goes Lawrence. Third, we march because the enemies of reproductive freedom are the same enemies of equal rights for LGBT people' — National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman to 365gay.com on the March for Women's Lives.
'On this Mother's Day, Dick and I are so proud of our daughter Chrissy and her partner Amy. President Bush wants to pass an amendment to the Constitution that would make Chrissy and Amy second-class citizens. John Kerry opposes this mean-spirited measure and has supported our gay and lesbian children for over 30 years.' — Jane Gephardt, wife of Missouri Congressman Dick Gephardt
'David Souter's encounter with street thugs in Washington put him in a hospital emergency room—and newspaper headlines, which was perhaps just as unnerving for the Supreme Court's most private member. ... Police have said they do not believe Souter's position had anything to do with the assault by a group of young men Friday night as the 64-year-old justice jogged alone not far from his house. He was treated for minor injuries and was back at work within hours.' — Associated Press report on Souter.
