Pictured Susan and Patrick Vaughn from the current season of CBS-TV's The Amazing Race.
'Judy Garland is the North Star of my constellation. I'm a massive fanatic and unashamedly so. I feel that she is, perhaps, one of the greatest examples of the well-rounded megastar. She had it all in terms of singing, acting, personality and tragic lifestyle. She was the real deal.' — Gay singer Rufus Wainwright as quoted in London's Gay Times, April issue.
'It's [ being gay ] just sort of incidental for me because I don't even date anybody. I have never dated anybody for more than, like, three months in my entire life. I've never been in love, I don't think I believe in love. So I just don't even date. I can't remember the last time I've been on a date.' — Openly gay Amazing Race contestant Patrick Vaughn, who was eliminated recently along with his mother Susan, to Advocate.com, April 1.
'Listening to Diana Ross's exuberant 'I'm Coming Out,' you're faced with one of the biggest mysteries of modern queer life. Why is Gloria Gaynor's bitter and hard-done-by 'I Will Survive' the quintessential gay anthem? Faced with a choice between 'There's a new me coming out/And I just had to live/And I wanna give/I'm completely positive' and 'Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye/Did you think I'd crumble/Did you think I'd lay down and die,' gay men identify with the one who almost laid down and died. ... Not to point fingers, but I blame bad drag queens. ... When the song has been cut like a cyst out of the drag repertoire, the revolution will come much more easily. Gloria Gaynor must die, metaphorically at least.' — Paul Gallant, managing editor of the Toronto gay newspaper Xtra!, in his March 31 editorial.
'So you swim, you don't wear eye make-up, you have short hair and you are a prison officer and you are heterosexual. Come on!' — Host Anne Robinson on an early April broadcast of the BBC's version of The Weakest Link.
'Pope John Paul II opposed the use of condoms and therefore contributed to the deaths of millions from AIDS. One month prior to his death this pope authorized the Vatican to block recognition of gay human rights authorized by the United Nations. He considered being gay evil. He continued persecuting gay clergy, but under his administration, the Vatican protected pedophile priests. No, I do not mourn this father figure, this prince of pedophiles. For, like so many father figures in so many families, using religion as the battering ram, he encouraged the persecution of the gay community worldwide, while avoiding dealing with the dysfunction in his own family, child sexual abuse. This is not greatness.' — Veteran gay activist Robin Tyler in an e-mail sent to journalists, April 4.
'Sexual orientation is an issue that has become more visible in public debate, the media, and often, in school curriculum. As such, your child is certain to hear about alternative lifestyles at some point. Since adolescents are impressionable, parents need to address the issue of sexual orientation within the context of their own value system. Think through your personal views on this issue before discussing it with your adolescent. ... Your discussions should take into account your adolescent's awareness of alternative lifestyles as well as how common they are in your particular community. If you believe your adolescent may be gay, or is experiencing difficulties with gender identity or sexual orientation issues, consider seeing a family therapist who shares your values to clarify and work through these issues.' — From the new U.S. Health and Human Services Department Web site 4parents.gov . Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese denounced the site, saying, 'By terming sexual orientation a 'lifestyle,' HHS is discussing it as a matter of choice, which is contrary to the vast majority of scientific evidence.' Full text is at 4parents.gov/topics/abstinence.htm.
'Gay people they want an awful lot. To be able to march in the St. Patrick's day parade, you know, I mean, come on. Let's face facts, gay people are very flamboyant and you don't want anything to take away from the dignity of that parade. You know it is very clear ... you don't want some gay guy checking you out while you are pissing behind a dumpster.' — Comic and The Daily Show host Jon Stewart at the Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People party.
'Cassi Niemann didn't know exactly what legislative district her father represented or the precise jargon to describe what he was doing in Annapolis ... . But in the posting on her personal blog Saturday, the 25-year-old daughter of Maryland Del. Doyle L. Niemann ( D-Prince George's ) made clear that she knew he had done something important. Something controversial. And he had done it for her. What Niemann did was speak out on the House floor in support of the Medical Decision Making Act, one of two gay rights bills passed in the final days of the Maryland General Assembly's 2005 session, which ended late Monday. 'I am casting this vote for my daughter, who I love dearly, who is 25 and is in a committed relationship with another woman,' Niemann said. 'Now, should we deny her the rights that we would expect, that I would expect for my wife and I? No. I'm casting my vote for her.' Only when homosexuality becomes an abstraction do people seem to lose their sense of tolerance, [ Niemann ] said—which is why he felt compelled to invoke his daughter's name when he rose to speak on the floor of the House.' — Washington Post, April 13, 2005.
