'Well, that's up to states, you know. If states choose to do that—in other words, if they want to provide legal protections for gays, that's great. That's fine. But I do not want to change the definition of marriage. I don't think our country should—from the traditional definition of marriage that's between a man or a woman. ... And I want to say something about this debate. It is a debate that must be conducted with the greatest respect for people. And that my judgment, I think our society is great because people are able to live their lifestyles, you know, as they choose or as they're oriented.' — George W. Bush when asked on CNN's Larry King Live, 'What about the union of gays?', Aug. 12.
'You know, people have said to me, well, if you're gay, you can't inherit because—and you don't get the exemption from income tax. Well, my answer there is get rid of the inheritance tax forever, the death tax, which I'm trying to do. And there are ways to make sure gays have got rights. And you can do so in the law.' — George W. Bush speaking out in favor of gay-rights laws on CNN's Larry King Live, Aug. 12.
'We're both opposed to gay marriage and believe that states should be allowed to decide this question.' — Democratic vice-presidential candidate John Edwards expressing support for Missouri's voter-enacted constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Aug. 6.
'We support nondiscrimination against our fellow Americans. We've always argued the states will be capable of taking care of this [gay marriage] by themselves. Massachusetts and Missouri are proving they are capable of taking care of it by themselves.' — Presidential candidate John Kerry to the Kansas City NBC affiliate, Aug. 7. Massachusetts' Supreme Judicial Court legalized same-sex marriage. Missouri's voters banned it with a constitutional amendment.
'I think right now our law says that we don't accept same-sex marriage. ... If the people change their minds, then so be it. If the courts change their mind, then so be it. Then we will follow those laws.' — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in an Aug. 13 radio interview, according to the Aug. 15 Los Angeles Times.
'I just want you to know, President Bush, I want you to know how hard I've been working for you here in California. I've been organizing Republicans for Bush-Cheney. I've been organizing Austrian-born bodybuilders for Bush-Cheney. I have been even organizing girlie men for Bush-Cheney.' — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger addressing Bush at a fundraiser in Santa Monica, Calif., Aug. 12.
'I see the right to same-sex marriage as a civil right. Frankly, I think when we look back on this, we are going to be aghast at the thought that people were ever denied these rights, the same way that we are aghast about the rights that were denied to African Americans in the past.' — Journalist Arianna Huffington to Los Angeles' lesbian News, August issue.
'The Federal Marriage Amendment is ... a destructive, divisive and ill-conceived piece of legislation that deserves to die a very public and painful death. And it's causing a lot of Republicans I know to not only fight the amendment but to take the logical next step and refuse to vote for Bush.' — Journalist Arianna Huffington to Los Angeles' lesbian News, August issue.
'The first thing LGBT people need to do is make sure that George W. Bush is sent back to Crawford for a permanent vacation. Because as long as Bush and his fellow fanatics are in office and pandering to the president's Christian conservative base, the civil rights of the LGBT community, and indeed of all Americans, are clearly in jeopardy. So you've got to make sure that you and everyone you know is registered and that they all turn out in November to vote.' — Journalist Huffington to LN.
'Politicians will stretch the truth. They'll exaggerate their accomplishments, paper over their gaffes. Spin has long been the lingua franca of the political realm. But George W. Bush and his administration have taken 'normal' mendacity to a startling new level far beyond lies of convenience. On top of the usual massaging of public perception, they traffic in big lies, indulge in any number of symptomatic small lies, and, ultimately, have come to embody dishonesty itself. They are a lie. And people, finally, have started catching on.' — Ron Reagan, son of Ronald Reagan, writing in Esquire magazine, September issue.
'Image is everything in this White House, and the image of George Bush as a noble and infallible warrior in the service of his nation must be fanatically maintained, because behind the image lies ... nothing? As Jonathan Alter of Newsweek has pointed out, Bush has 'never fully inhabited' the presidency. Bush apologists can smilingly excuse his malapropisms and vagueness as the plainspokenness of a man of action, but watching Bush flounder when attempting to communicate extemporaneously, one is left with the impression that he is ineloquent not because he can't speak but because he doesn't bother to think.' — Ron Reagan, son of Ronald Reagan, in Esquire magazine.
'If Kerry wins and the Democrats don't take the House, yeah, I'm going to run for the Senate.' — Gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to Newsweek, July 21.
'Having made gay identity into something nonthreatening, à la Will & Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, hasn't made much of a dent in the underlying homophobia. Most arbiters of morality—whether the film ratings board, the Department of Defense, or the Methodist Church—still rank gay sex right up there with bestiality on the ickiness scale.' — Advocate Editor In Chief Bruce C. Steele, writing in the Aug. 17 issue.
