'Pompous little pansy prig. ... Pillow-biter.' — Veteran Sydney, Australia, broadcaster John Laws on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy star Carson Kressley, Nov. 3 on radio station 2UE. On Nov. 18, Laws apologized, saying he was just being satirical and was not 'condoning or supporting any form of verbal or physical violence directed at gay men and lesbians.'
'We need to educate the younger generation of gay men because many think that living with HIV is a real doddle. They don't realize that there's no cure; it's treatment for life and the meds can have horrible side-effects.' — Gay actor Rupert Everett to the British AIDS magazine Positive Nation, November issue.
'I'm very suspicious of God-fearing zealots in whatever country they bloody well live in.' — Gay singer Elton John to the Washington Post, Dec. 5.
'Ohio is the new Florida in the 2004 election and we are looking at a recount headed by Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell. The same man that permitted the use of electronic machines that provided no paper record. The same man who presided over a voting system that resulted in quick, short lines in the dominantly Republican suburbs, while the inner-cities experienced four and six hour long waiting lines. The same man who ensured that wealthy precincts received ample numbers of voting machines and numerous voting places while Democratic precincts received inadequate numbers of machines in too few polling places. The same man who has completely turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the countless voter fraud and irregularity claims that have emerged on a daily basis since November 2nd. The most recent example being Ellen Connally, an African-American Supreme Court candidate who ran an under-funded race and was placed at the bottom of the ticket. She received over 257,000 more votes than Kerry in 37 counties in Ohio. Such an outcome is highly improbable and warrants immediate investigation.' — Gay icon Barbra Streisand writing on her Web site, Dec. 6.
'Kerry mentioning about Cheney's daughter being a lesbian ... I thought was completely unnecessary. But the fact that the Cheneys went: 'Oh! You devil! You devil!' They made it sound like there's something wrong with being a lesbian, which there isn't.' — Gay actor Richard Chamberlain ( Dr. Kildare ) to the Ohio gay newspaper Outlook, Dec. 2.
'On gay marriage, I don't believe in it. And my gay friends don't believe in it. I do believe in equal rights, in civil unions.' — Singer/actress Carol Channing to the Palm Springs gay publication The Bottom Line.
'Everybody we know is gay. Almost everybody that's ever worked for us has been gay. Their [ my kids' ] lives are filled with people that have been in long-term gay relationships, both women and men, so they're pretty much surrounded.' — Susan Sarandon to the San Diego gay magazine Buzz, Nov. 11.
'The Sept. 29 news story 'Scalia Describes Dangerous Trend' misquoted Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as saying that 'I even take the position that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged.' In fact, Scalia said, 'I even accept for the sake of argument that sexual orgies eliminate social tensions and ought to be encouraged.'' — Correction published in The Harvard Crimson, Sept. 29.
'Our rights are slowly being eroded. It happened in Nazi Germany, the incredible brain drain of artists, scientists and writers who fled to the U.S. Now it's happening here [ in the U.S. ] . The government wants gays to live outside the protection of the law.' — Gay screenwriter Craig Lucas ( Prelude to a Kiss, The Secret Lives of Dentists ) who is immigrating to Vancouver in response to the antigay results of the U.S. election, to Toronto's Globe and Mail, Nov. 10.
' [ Bush supporters ] see the connection between terrorism and what I'll call homo-ism. ... Both groups recruit impressionable young men—at camp—in remote mountain regions. Then, they videotape it and release it on the Internet. Or, so I've been told.' — Correspondent Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, Nov. 3.
'I can look back and cringe at a lot of the stuff.' — Ellen DeGeneres on her relationship with Anne Heche, to Parade magazine, Oct. 31.
'There were people who really plugged in, and they plugged in at their strength. There were people who were incredible advertising designers and amazing scientists, and they contributed. ... One of the pressing needs [ of the gay movement ] is to give people a way to do work.' — Lesbian comic Kate Clinton on ACT UP, to the Chicago GLBT people-of-color publication Identity, November issue. The interview also ran in Windy City Times.
'They even give cockroaches the rank of family now because they live under the same roof. If there's a cat, a dog, two lesbians and everything living there, it's a family. One of the great goals of the culture of death is destruction of the family.' — Vatican health secretary Javier Lozano Barragan speaking at the 48th International Eucharistic Congress, Oct. 12 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
'Of course, we're not going to sing it to each other—that would be creepy.' — Barry Manilow as he introduced a love-song duet he was about to sing with another male singer, during an Oct. 7 concert at New York City's Madison Square Garden. The other singer will star in a Broadway musical Manilow has written about a pre-World War II German boy band.
'I'm terribly sorry if I offended anyone. I meant it only as a joke about Brian [ d'Arcy James ] and me, and not as a reflection on anyone else. I strongly believe in and support equal rights and acceptance for everyone, and apologize if my joke came off to the contrary.' — Manilow in an Oct. 12 statement to this column.
'No comment.' — Manilow's publicist, Jill Fritzo, when asked Oct. 12 if Manilow is openly gay.
'I open up each new script thinking, what humiliation will I face this week?' — Scott Lowell, who plays Ted on Queer As Folk, to the Sydney Star Observer, Oct. 14.
