'A 34 year-old former Detroit resident, who asked to remain unnamed, yesterday admitted that he'd had a 'love affair' with [rapper Eminem] 11 years ago. He showed grainy pictures of the two together and admitted that Eminem had given him a massive pay-off when he signed with Dr. Dre to stop his former partner from saying anything. The man also played some intimate tapes that Eminem had made for him; the Source are said to be ready to face bankruptcy in order to get hold of them.' — Rap News Direct Dec. 18. ''Marshall, or 'Pumpkin' as I used to call him, was a very tender, very giving partner. He admitted that he felt comfortable with me, and that he'd finally stopped living in self-denial regarding his sexuality.' The man admitted that Eminem had chosen to keep their relationship a secret, and ended the relationship when one of his friends found out. He also said that one member of D12 was aware of the affair, but refused to say who. The man also stated that Eminem had continued to call and meet with him until 1999, often for sex. ... 'Pumpkin was very much in love with me, as I was with him.'' — Rap News, which also said the man accepted no money for the interview.
'If he [Bush] stays in office things are definitely going to get worse. I was just in London and there were articles in the papers about how Europeans like Americans, just not American leadership. I don't know if that's true, but it's a comforting thought. I have a line where [my character] Mo says, 'Americans are for the most part repugnant.' And I think that's true.' — Dykes To Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel to Montreal's Hour newspaper, Nov. 27.
'You really shouldn't believe what you read in the newspapers. It's not healthy. Unless you know that the person is very truthful, because people are going to take things out of context or say things that are not true, and that has happened to me on so many occasions. Originally, they had me [as] a transvestite.' — Donna Summer to the Windy City Times, Nov. 26.
'To me Richard Chamberlain was one of those guys whose closet always had a glass door.' — Queer As Folk's Hal Sparks on VH1's Big in O3, Nov. 30. Queer Eye's Fab Five took honors as 2003's 'Biggest Gay Hero.'
'I'll fight to the death for your right to marry—but, no! Men are slugs. You can't trust a one of them.' — Actor Harvey Fierstein, asked by the Associated Press Dec. 2 if he plans to get married when same-sex marriage is legalized.
'Times change. While many older people I know still tend to lose all the blood from their faces when the words 'gay' and 'marriage' are put next to each other, my son's middle-school friends are more likely to shrug and say 'What's the big deal?' We can learn a lot from our kids. Sometimes they can show us how much this country is moving toward more tolerance, not less.' — Columnist Clarence Page in the Chicago Tribune Dec. 3.
'[Madonna] wants to get her PhD in critical literary theory specializing in women's studies, gender and queer theory. She said, 'I want to focus my attention primarily on postmodern American and British literature. I consider myself American and British. Multicultural, really.' Maybe even multitextual. Madonna has already put in her application at Oxford University, and is expected to start attending classes during the Spring Semester. 'I've spent a lot of my life doing things for myself, but I want to give back to other people, my children, my supporters. My ultimate goal is to do what I've always done, but to do it better, with more authority. I want to be a teacher.' ... Madonna is interested in studying Maxine Hong Kingston, Jeanette Winterson, and photographer Cindy Sherman who the future Dr. Madonna has donated money for to her exhibit at the MOMA in 1997.' — Reuters news service.
'I want to be more like Judith Butler than like Michel Foucault. I have always been interested in identity and gender, and now that I live part-time in Britain, I feel like I am a part of two yet different cultures which have significant influences on literature and discourse. I just finished writing a whole series of children's books, now all I have to do is become part of the academic community who writes about me. I think I know more about Postmodernism that most professors or students ever could, or ever will for that matter.' — Madonna.
'When Chicago Today folded in 1974, there was some question whether [Bruce] Vilanch would be hired at the staid Tribune. For one thing, he was flamboyantly gay (in an era when out gay men weren't seen much in newsrooms), with an outré appearance favoring weird T-shirts. For another, he was working both sides of the street, writing entertainment reviews by day and pursuing his own showbiz stand-up career in Chicago clubs at night.' — Chicago Tribune interview with writer and actor Vilanch, timed for his turn in Hairspray here.
'In 1974, Vilanch wrote a review of [Bette] Midler's Mr. Kelly's show (notable if only because one of Midler's breasts became loose from her costume and she decided to flash the audience). The next day, Midler called Vilanch and hired him. 'She said she thought my story was funny,' Vilanch said.' — Chicago Tribune.
'Back in the '70s, Gloria Steinem famously saluted Bette Midler's Carmen Miranda-ish performances for 'giving drag back to women.' It was a short-lived return. The then underground drag queens of Midler's early years soon emerged, peopling bigger and bigger hits, from 'Outrageous' and the French language 'La Cage aux Folles' to such mainstream fare as 'Victor, Victoria,' the musical 'La Cage,' 'Torch Song Trilogy,' 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' and 'The Crying Game.' Midler's once campy female 'drag,' her row of Rockette-like Mermaids in wheelchairs, once again on view in her concert tour launched here earlier this week, is now tame stuff. The once subversive, gender-threatening drag persona is not only omnipresent but, in its most lovable incarnation ever, in the musical 'Hairspray,' opening Tuesday at the Oriental Theatre, downright cuddly. ' — Tribune arts reporter Sid Smith.
'Though Milton Berle kept comic drag alive on TV in the '50s, followed by the reluctant drag of 'Some Like It Hot,' cross-dressing was a mostly underground affair in the late '60s and early '70s, often part of a gay lib political manifesto.' — Smith.
'[Singer] Lauryn Hill stunned leading members of the Roman Catholic Church when she accused them of moral corruption, exploitation and abuse from the stage during a Christmas concert at the Vatican. Hill, 28, launched her diatribe in front of an audience of 7,500 guests at a packed Paul VI hall, used by Pope John Paul II for indoor public audiences. 'I'm not here to celebrate, like you, the birth of Christ, but to ask you why you are not in mourning for his death in this place,' Hill said ... . 'Holy God has witnessed the corruption of your leadership, of the exploitation and abuses which are the minimum that can be said for the clergy,' she added, calling on the hierarchy to 'repent'. Stunned hierarchy in the front row ... included one of the most senior figures in the Church, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who is head of the Italian bishops conference. ... Hill, a former member of The Fugees and winner of five Grammy Awards, said she was not speaking as a representative of any religious organisation.' — From the Web site sg.news.yahoo.com/031214/1/3gnoz.html .
'The decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declaring that gays have a constitutional right to marry could become a powerful wedge issue in American politics. There is, however, a way to avoid that. Those who oppose gay marriage believe deeply that marriage is sacreda divine, a blessed sacrament between man and woman as ordained in the Bible. If they are right, then the entire concept of marriage has no place in our civil society, which recognizes the separation between the sacred and the secular, between church and state. The state is, of course, concerned with the secular rights and responsibilities that are currently associated with the sacrament of marriage: the financial consequences of divorce, the custody of children, Social Security and hospital benefits, etc. The solution is to unlink the religious institution of marriage—as distinguished from the secular institution of civil union—from the state. Under this proposal, any couple could register for civil union, recognized by the state, with all its rights and responsibilities.' — Alan M. Dershowitz in the Dec. 3 Los Angeles Times. Dershowitz is a law professor at Harvard University.
'Not only would this solution be good for gays and for those who oppose gay marriage on religious grounds, it would also strengthen the wall of separation between church and state by placing a sacred institution entirely in the hands of the church while placing a secular institution under state control. Although this proposal may sound radical, it does not differ fundamentally—except for labels—from the situation that exists in many states today.' — Dershowitz.
