Pitured Filmmaker John Waters. Photo courtesy of GLAAD.
'The debate for a constitutional amendment [to ban same-sex marriage] allows the American people to debate this issue, rather than having the issue decided by a mayor or state supreme court in one state. It gives people the opportunity to talk about it, to debate it on both sides. And I hope that in the debate about it, people will respect the feelings of other people and that it will stay a very sensitive debate because it is a very sensitive issue.' — First Lady Laura Bush to the Columbus [Ohio] Dispatch, Sept. 15.
'Blame-shifting does have its rewards. Nothing could be more satisfying than to think that gay men and lesbians—not we [straight people]—are responsible for the shameful rate of failed marriages in this country. If, as the Rev. Jerry Falwell claimed, they were indirectly responsible for the attacks of 9/11, they might be capable of anything! ... But the first casualty of shifting the blame is often common sense: the rapist blaming his crime on the immodest dress of his victim; a defense lawyer assigning his client's murder spree to a Twinkies diet; or a Talib concluding that his obsession with a woman's bare ankle is best addressed by blowing up a pair of 1,500-year-old Buddhas.' — Family Ties actor Michael Gross writing in Los Angeles Times, Sept. 14.
'People are going to believe what they want to believe anyway. I have answered the question once [before of whether I'm gay] and I don't think I will ever answer it again because, quite frankly, it is no one's business to know anyone else's business. ... It is kind of not a minority group, but a group of people that there is a distinguishing factor that we don't have in common, and they respect and admire what I do, and I think it is a very big compliment.' — Australian swimming legend Ian Thorpe, 22, denying he's gay in a chat with Australian reporters, Sept. 16.
'That [getting married] was better, deeper, more meaningful than I thought it would be. I never really invested in marriage. I come from the generation of gays that were like, that's the straight thing to do, that's not a part of my life. So it was a long journey to doing that and, once I did it, it's huge, and it's really more than I ever imagined.' — Singer Melissa Etheridge on her marriage to actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, to the Memphis gay magazine Family & Friends, August issue.
'People have different views ... about what constitutes marriage. ... What I think is important is to fight for fundamental rights. To me, the focus right now ought to be on the application of the equal protection clause—ought to be gaining the foothold of employment non-discrimination, gaining the foothold of hate-crimes legislation, making sure that we're protecting people's ability to share the same rights—partnership rights, tax-code treatment rights, ownership rights, Social Security—those rights are what are important to me. That's what's governed more by the state and it becomes less of [a] conflict between ... religion and the state, if you will.' — Presidential candidate John Kerry in a Sept. 9 interview with lesbian free-lance journalist Lisa Keen.
'I was unbriefed and I thought it [Missouri's constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage] was the same amendment we had in Massachusetts. And that's very simple. I just thought it was a simple prohibition [on marriage] and not one that excluded civil unions. Obviously, it'd be inconsistent [to support the Missouri amendment, which I did]. I am for civil unions and, therefore, I would not have voted for that [the Missouri amendment] had I been there. ... I just didn't know it went as far as it did and, obviously, I don't support it.' — John Kerry in a Sept. 9 interview with lesbian free-lance journalist Lisa Keen.
'I just can't tell you how I would have responded to it. Would I have been at the forefront of the crusade in the 1960s or would I still be, as some people are, living a double life or something? I don't know.' — John Kerry when asked, in a Sept. 9 interview with lesbian free-lance journalist Lisa Keen, 'If you had been born gay, how different do you think your life would be?'
'This past week in New York, George Bush Sr. and Barbara saw Hairspray the Musical. They posed for pictures with [Dame] Edna in drag, and George Sr. did the Twist outside the theater. So ... you just never know! I guess that is the most subversive moment in my career—that I made a movie that tricked George Bush Sr. into thinking it was family values.' — Filmmaker John Waters to PlanetOut.com, Sept. 18.
'It's easier for a gay person to get elected in a small town because people know you and their biases go away. In a place like Salt Lake City, it would be a bigger issue because you can't meet everybody and they vote their biases.' — Willy Marshall, the gay mayor of Big Water, Utah, to the Salt Lake Tribune, Sept. 20. The town has about 417 residents.
'I was unwise in making the statement. All of us have made statements we wish we hadn't made. That was one for me.' — Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart to New Orleans' Times-Picayune newspaper Sept. 22, referring to a Sept. 12 TV broadcast in which he said: 'I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I'm going to be blunt and plain: If one ever looks at me like that, I'm going to kill him and tell God he died.'
'My private life is private. But at the same time, I have nothing to hide. So what I will say is that I am very happy.' — Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon (Miranda) when the New York Daily News asked her to confirm reports that she is involved with a woman, Sept. 24.
'We will not confirm or deny anything.' — Carrie Ross, publicist for Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon (Miranda), after the New York Daily News reported that Nixon is involved with a woman.
