Pictured Oliver Stone. Sontag, photo from her Web site; image taken by Annie Leibovitz.
' [ The L Word's ] lesbians are all impeccably coiffed ( and note: they have way more hair to coif than I do ) , LA-glamorous, fancy-car-driving, latte-sipping, power-suit-styling, upwardly mobile 30-somethings. Glamorous is the key word. It pervades everything they do, everything they are. They are nothing if not LA. And there isn't a butch dyke in sight.' — Reporter Robin Perelle writing in the Vancouver gay newspaper Xtra! West, Dec. 23.
'Where are all the unstylish, multifaceted, middle-income, co-op-dwelling, herbal-tea-drinking dykes living outside the dominant culture? ... Where are all the people forging their own, distinctly lesbian, ways of being? Where are all the real butches? Where are all the leatherdykes? Hell, were are all my own hockey buddies?' — Reporter Robin Perelle dissing TV's 'The L Word' in the Dec. 23 issue of the Vancouver gay newspaper Xtra! West.
'Dubya [ is ] so utterly empty and blank eyed and falsely pious, he is but a lint speck on the coattails of time and you just know that you could poke him with your middle finger and all that would pour out would be sawdust and a bunch of tiny ball bearings.' — SFGate.com columnist Mark Morford, Jan. 5.
'Do you know anyone who lives in Texas and I don't mean Austin because Austin isn't really a part of Texas given how it actually has some culture and music and a decent university and a pulse? You do? Good. Hie thee to divine-interventions.com and order a Baby Jesus Butt Plug and send it to them as a gift and tell them you shall pray hard that they use it to find God.' — SFGate.com columnist Mark Morford, Jan. 5.
' [ T ] he number of people killed in the tsunami is the same as the number of people in the world who die of AIDS every 18 days.' — NBC News Chief Health and Science Correspondent Robert Bazell in a Jan. 5 e-mail to veteran gay activist Larry Kramer.
'I still can't believe that it [ George W. Bush's reelection ] really could have happened. Just look at the facts on the table: He'd gone into a war having misled people —whether deliberately or not—about why he went to war. You would think that would have knocked him out [ of the race. ] It didn't. Look at the number of American soldiers who have died since he claimed that the war had ended. And yet it seems this doesn't make most Americans worry too much. I was teaching in Jacksonville, Fla., [ during the election campaign ] and I was shocked, because I had naively believed all these many years that Americans genuinely believed in freedom of speech. [ But I ] discovered there that when you made an utterance that was remotely contrary to what the White House was saying, then they attacked you. For a South African the déjà vu was frightening. They behaved exactly the same way that used to happen here [ during apartheid ] — vilifying those who are putting forward a slightly different view.' — Famed South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Newsweek, Dec. 30.
'Do you really believe that the Jesus who was depicted in the Scriptures as being on the side of those who were vilified, those who were marginalized, that this Jesus would actually be supporting groups that clobber a group that is already persecuted? That's a Christ I would not worship. I'm glad that I believe very fervently that Jesus would not be on the side of gay bashers. To think that people say, as they used to say, that AIDS was God's punishment for homosexuality. Abominable. Abominable.' — South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Newsweek, Dec. 30.
'The homosexuality thing was a buzzword and got all around. It was a hot-button issue and I think it got overblown. 'Alexander the Gay'—I mean, it's ridiculous.' — Alexander director Oliver Stone to Reuters, Jan. 5.
'If we all take a vow of silence and never mention gay marriage again, do you really think George Bush is not going to raise the Federal Marriage Amendment again? They're going to use that issue whether we vow never to touch it or not. It's ... silly ... to believe that somehow our enemies, those who support discrimination, are going to play by the rules, and not raise the issue if we don't.' — Recently ousted or resigned Human Rights Campaign Executive Director Cheryl Jacques to the Boston Globe, Jan. 6.
' [ B ] eing open about our lives is the most important and powerful form of activism at our disposal. Lecturing our friends and family about gay marriage isn't nearly so important as letting them see that our relationships are as important and integral to us as theirs are to them. If we do not treat our relationships as equal, how can we ever expect others to do the same? 'Coming out' isn't a one-step conversation; it's a lifelong commitment. And it isn't just about activism and civil rights. It's about living your life with integrity and honesty and, to use an overused word, it's about pride.' — Washington Blade Executive Editor Chris Crain in a Jan. 7 editorial.
'We must realize that the path to LGBT equality leads directly through the Republican Party.' — National Center for Lesbian Rights attorney Karen Doering writing in the Florida gay publication The Gazette, January issue.
'I've learned to choose fixer-upper houses rather than fixer-upper boyfriends.' — Columnist Kevin Ison writing in the Florida gay publication The Gazette, January issue.
'I grew up in a time when the modus operandi was the 'open secret.' I'm used to that, and quite OK with it. Intellectually, I know why I haven't spoken more about my sexuality, but I do wonder if I haven't repressed something there to my detriment. ... Maybe I could have given comfort to some people if I had dealt with the subject of my private sexuality more, but it's never been my prime mission to give comfort, unless somebody's in drastic need. I'd rather give pleasure, or shake things up.' — From an unpublished 2000 interview that Out magazine Editor-in-Chief Brendan Lemon did with author Susan Sontag, who died Dec. 28. Lemon published excerpts from the interview at Out.com . At the time of her death, Sontag apparently was romantically involved with photographer Annie Leibovitz, and The New York Times has come under fire for failing to report that.