'The bear phenomenon is real and strong and one of the most hopeful cultural trends in gay life right now. But among many younger gay men, the bear thing still resonates with prejudiced notions of fat, older guys, who are rationalizing their own unattractiveness. The gyms and bars are still full of the feminized, shaved, plucked, exfoliated creatures that dominate the fashion ads. On 'Queer Eye,' the Fab Five have recommended that even straight guys trim, shave or remove what makes them sexy.' — Gay writer Andrew Sullivan in New York City's H/X, Oct. 16.
'Hairy backs do not lessen my sexual attraction to another guy: their extreme masculinity—and their comfort with it, more than anything—is deeply attractive. I'll leave the joys of hairy asses to others (although my own dismay at being what the personal ads call 'lightly hairy' on my upper body is immensely relieved by the fact that my genes covered me in hair from the waist down). And there is nothing more masculine than the weather-pattern of hair-cyclones on a chest leading to a thick, dense trail of hairiness down to the crotch. Anyone who shaves off this natural masterpiece is a vandal.' — Sullivan in New York City's H/X, Oct. 16.
'10 November 2003 will remain for me, and for thousands of gay and lesbian athletes around the world, a day of mourning.' — Olympic gold-medal swimmer Mark Tewksbury Nov. 11 after Montréal's hosting of the 2006 Gay Games disintegrated amidst feuding with the Federation of Gay Games. Montréal wanted to plan big but FGG wanted to hold back and play it safe because previous Games have gone bankrupt. The two sides also couldn't agree on financial-control issues. Montréal plans to go ahead and hold a gay games on its own without FGG branding.
'Prince Charles is in the middle of a gay-sex scandal and media frenzy that just won't quit. ... Butler-turned-biographer Paul Burrell says he has an audiotape describing a sexual encounter between Prince Charles and a male aide.' — USA Today, Nov. 11.
'Admitting to myself that I was gay I did years before I admitted that I was camp; that took a lot more reconciling myself to. It's not the ideal. It's not sexy. It's not what most people want; everyone is straight-acting.' — Openly gay BBC America talk-show host Graham Norton to Palm Springs' The Bottom Line, Sept. 19.
'I myself have no interest in getting married and quite enjoy the law as an excuse. I just want to be a slut and not pay any alimony.' — Graham Norton.
'Gay bars here [in the UK] are cruisy or nothing. Here, you would never talk to someone in a gay bar unless you want to have sex with him. In America, you can chat on to someone and it doesn't particularly mean anything. Not that it has anything to do with being gay; it has to do with being American.' — Norton.
'In America, it's like a runaway train now. They might as well pass all these [pro-gay] laws now because there is no stopping it. It's become so visible and big. I think it's hard to put the gay genie back in the bottle; it's out there and going to stay out.' — Norton.
'My daughter turned me onto it [Queer Eye for the Straight Guy]. I've literally stopped watching television, but my daughter kept telling me, 'You have to watch this show.' So finally I did—I can't stop watching it. I told my husband if he didn't stop doing his hair the way he does, I was going to call them over to our house.' — Actress Mariel Hemingway [she played a lesbian in the film Personal Best] to Palm Springs' The Bottom Line, Oct. 3.
'Ronald Reagan was the opposite of a gay-basher. [There was] a stink when Nancy Reagan invited her interior decorator and his boyfriend to stay overnight at the White House. Some of the social right was upset when he [allowed that]. That's how opposite he was of the tyrannical, judgmental figure he is portrayed in this [upcoming miniseries The Reagans]. He was a guy from Hollywood. He dealt with gays all his life. He was not a homophobe and a bigot.' — Columnist Jim Pinkerton on Fox News Watch, Oct. 26.
'If we gave some real meat to those characters, Will would fit the bill of a lame, wimpy, prissy Susie-homemaker who probably faints at the first hint of chunk on his dick. Jack would spend a lot of time beside a gloryhole, because no one would date him for being such an annoying flaming queen.' — Columnist Paulo Murillo in the Los Angeles gay newspaper fab!, Nov. 7.
'Without baring flesh, exchanging fluids or even shedding blood, Will & Grace has become the craftiest, if not the most radical, show in the history of network television—though not merely for its unabashed depiction of gay existence, or the risqué, multi-entendre-filled dialogue its writers slyly sneak under the censors' radar. Will & Grace is revolutionary for something so utterly conventional it would warm the hearts of bubbes and zeydes across America's urban landscapes: sliding a portrait of a twenty-first-century Jewish American's life into a sitcom about a gay man and his best gal pal.' — Kera Bolonik writing in The Nation, Nov. 17.
'If you can get validation on network TV, who needs to pick up the local bar rag?' — Dykes To Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel to the North Carolina gay newspaper The Front Page, Sept. 12.
'One species of gay fan I've always had is the guys who sort of wish they could be lesbians. They're sort of new-agey and don't like the bar scene and they read the strip because it's a kind of lesbian community for them. Then there are the old-school leftist gay men who like the strip for its politics. My most fun gay fans are very smart, erudite guys who like the strip because ... I dunno. Maybe because I use big words.' — Dykes To Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel to the North Carolina gay newspaper The Front Page, Sept. 12.
'We have had [same-sex] civil unions in this state [Vermont] for three years, and as far as I can tell, it hasn't hurt anybody's marriage.' — Presidential candidate and former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean to Los Angeles' Lesbian News, November issue.
'You couldn't put this in a book— nobody would believe it.' — New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg Nov. 7 after five transgender students from the Harvey Milk gay high school were arrested for impersonating undercover vice cops dressed as female prostitutes and demanding money, credit cards, ATM cards and PIN codes to let their victims go free.
Pictured: Dean and Actress Mariel Hemingway. Photo by Bob Gordon/Wockner News
