'My demons were when I was a kid, you know, I wasn't popular in school. So, Survivor really is kind of like high school, so I wanted to be popular, you know. I wanted to be the prom queen. ... And to be part of a team was definitely an appeal, because I've never been part of a team.' — Survivor contestant Coby Archa, a gay hairdresser, during this season's final episode, May 15.
'I'M TIRED. I'm tired of saying the same things. I've said enough. People look at me for answers. But I don't know anymore. I'm gonna be 70 soon. It's your world now. Please do something with it.' — Veteran activist Larry Kramer to the Washington Post, May 9.
'I liked it [ Showtime's The L Word ] when it first came out, I was a big fan. I think it fell into the toilet. It started out good, and now I'm disgusted by it. There isn't one decent relationship. The worst thing is the relationships. There isn't one monogamous relationship. Every show has to have a sex scene. I don't know what they are thinking. There is nobody in there that I relate to, that I can say: 'That's cool! Wow! I want to be more like that!'' — Tennis legend Martina Navratilova to PlanetOut.com, May 6.
'Let's hope that Pope Benedict XVI quickly realizes that the worst sex scandal in the Catholic Church doesn't involve predatory priests. Rather, it involves the Vatican's hostility to condoms, which is creating more AIDS orphans every day.' — Columnist Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times, May 8.
'Someone should really do a national, once-and-for-all study to back up what everyone already knows—which is, of course, that the more repressed and sanctimonious and uptight you are about sex and love and gender and religion, the more likely you are to be involved in secret kink, in deep perversion, illegal perversion, perversion that crosses the line from healthy and slippery and delicious to degrading and morally reprehensible and Karl Rove. Just ask ... the Catholic Church.' — SFGate.com columnist Mark Morford, May 11.
' [ Spokane, Wash., Mayor James ] West's long, successful political career has been distinguished by his attempts to ban gay men and lesbians from schools and day care centers, to fire gay state employees, to deny City Hall benefits to domestic partners and to stifle AIDS-prevention education. The Spokesman-Review [ newspaper ] caught him trolling gay Web sites for young men and trying to lure them with gifts and favors. ... Not unlike the Roy Cohn of 'Angels in America'—who describes himself as 'a heterosexual man' who has sex 'with guys'—Mr. West has said he had 'relations with adult men' but doesn't 'characterize' himself as gay. This is more than hypocrisy—it's pathology.' — New York Times columnist Frank Rich, May 15.
'Whatever happened to gay rage? Remember the bar brawl brashness of Stonewall? Police cars toppled and lit on fire after Toronto's bathhouse raids? When younger homosexuals get nostalgic for the heady days of gay lib, they oughtn't yearn so much for the unfettered drug-taking and unprotected sex. They should long to be mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. I still maintain that if you lift the lid off any queer, you'll find a cauldron full of seething rage hidden inside. Left unchecked, it will simmer endlessly as a soup of self-loathing, or reduce to a thick stew of bitterness.' — Pink Triangle Press Publisher & Editor at large David Walberg, writing at Xtra.ca, May 11.
'The supermodel/glamazon image was a planned strategy to push buttons and turn heads, while using familiar imagery to invoke an icon. One part Dolly Parton, two parts Barbie, a cup of Cleopatra Jones and a dash of Disney.' — RuPaul to the San Diego gay magazine Buzz, May 13.
'I'll tell you straight up: That boy whupped my tail. He's 210 pounds, [ I'm ] 155; that ain't no excuse because I'm pure steel from the steel mill, you know. And I thought I was gonna whup Coby, you know. I'm thinkin' in my head, this is a gay hairdresser, he's feminine, I'm gonna whup his tail; I'm a steel-mill worker. That boy, he's got some tail, I'm tellin' ya.' — Survivor contestant James Miller, an unemployed steelworker and self-described redneck, talking about contestant Coby Archa, a gay hairdresser, on this season's final episode, May 15.
'I can't get dates! It's terrible. When I watch the show, I'm like, 'Oh, my God. I'm never gonna get a date!' Fame has ruined my love life!' — Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Jai Rodriguez to the Los Angeles gay magazine Frontiers, May 11.
'My apartment is always messy; I don't live in luxury. So I just want to put this out there into the universe in case anyone is interested in dating me: I'm looking for someone who's under 35, fit, witty and normal—and who will understand that I'm on a makeover show in which I'm paid to critique men's behavior, but in real life, I'm very relaxed about how I feel people should dress and stuff. Really!' — Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Jai Rodriguez to the Los Angeles gay magazine Frontiers, May 11.
