'The history of gay rights and marriage equity has always been two steps forward, one step back. Right now, there's forward momentum in Washington state, in New Jersey, California and New York. But at the same time, we're under increased attack. There is a tremendous amount of anti-gay organizing going on, and in some states we're not going to be able to put up much of a fight.' — National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Aug. 13.
'We have sanitized and intellectualized our cause to the point of abstraction. Our argument is always about—you know, you get a better dental plan if you're married. Stuff like that. But marriage is just a code word. The fight is really: Are we equal humans in society or not? The right wing goes for the gut and we respond in this completely sterile way, talking about academic issues like the 1,038 rights that are denied us. It's kind of like John Kerry in the presidential race.' —National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Aug. 13.
'You better show up on my tour because if I don't have gay men out front, I don't have a good show. This is my First Annual Farewell Tour. I got so jealous of Cher with all her farewell tours.' — Comic Joan Rivers to the London gay newspaper The Pink Paper, Aug. 4.
'I cannot tolerate an American president, ostensibly meant to be one of the most articulate and intellectually sophisticated leaders on the planet, mumbling his semicoherent support of the embarrassing nontheory of 'Intelligent Design,' to the detriment of about 300 years of confirmed science and 10 million years of common sense to the point where America's armies of dumbed-down Ritalin-drunk children look at him and sigh and secretly wish they could have a future devoid of such imbecilic thought but who realize, deep down, they are merely another doomed and fraught generation who will face an increasingly steep uphill battle, who will actually have to fight for fact and intellectual growth and spiritual progress against a rising tide of ignorance and religious hegemony and sanitized revisionist textbooks that insult their understanding and sucker punch their sexuality and bleed their minds dry.' —San Francisco Chronicle columnist Mark Morford, Aug. 10.
'Each year when the swans go in, the kids immediately come to us and say, 'Which one's Romeo, and which one's Juliet?' It's just like one of those fairy tales; why spoil it?' — Boston Parks and Recreation Department spokeswoman Mary Hines in response to the revelation that a famous pair of swans at the Public Garden is a lesbian couple, to the Boston Globe, Aug. 12. Department officials kept it a secret for several months after they figured it out, the Globe said.
'You boys are adorable. I can't believe there are so many men who love me but don't want me.' — Actress Debbie Reynolds in an appearance at San Francisco's Castro Theater, as quoted by the San Francisco Bay Times, July 28.
'There has been zero negative effect. The only people who have been affected by the decision to allow same-sex marriages [ in Massachusetts ] are a few people who lived across the street from a couple of lesbians and had to buy them wedding presents. That is clear to people in Massachusetts. No one—credibly—argues now that this has had a negative effect on anybody. We knew that would be the case.' — Gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to the Seattle Gay News, July 29.
'If George W. Bush gets one more Supreme Court appointment, then a very important decision, the Lawrence decision, which says it was unconstitutional to prosecute two consenting men having sex in their bedroom—that would be overturned. John Roberts would overturn that. You have Bush talking about how Scalia—virulent homophobe—is such a good model for him.' — Gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., to the Seattle Gay News, July 29.
'Drag for me was a commentary on life. 'You mean I'm not supposed to do this? Well, fuck you.' Then I found out I could make a lot of money doing it.' — RuPaul to syndicated Canadian gay columnist Richard Burnett, July 21.
'My jaw dropped at this man's chutzpah. Here's a guy who lied all through his administration about being gay while putting his male lover on the payroll. As governor he fought gay marriage tooth and nail and now he's on the gay social circuit at a party sponsored by the very organization ( Lambda ) that sued him for his position. What's he going to do next? Be keynote speaker at a government ethics convention?' — Steven Goldstein, president of the gay group, Garden State Equality, to the Newark Star Ledger Aug. 27, on former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, who quit after a scandal about hiring his alleged boyfriend, but who seems to be trying to be part of the gay social network now.
'The new Pope faces his first controversy over the direction of the Catholic church after it was revealed that the Vatican has drawn up a religious instruction preventing gay men from being priests. The controversial document, produced by the Congregation for Catholic Education and Seminaries, the body overseeing the church's training of the priesthood, is being scrutinised by Benedict XVI. It been suggested Rome would publish the instruction earlier this month, but it dropped the plan out of concern that such a move might tarnish his visit to his home city of Cologne last week. The document expresses the church's belief that gay men should no longer be allowed to enter seminaries to study for the priesthood. Currently, as all priests take a vow of celibacy, their sexual orientation has not been considered a pressing concern.' — The London Observer.
'Vatican-watchers believe the Pope harbours doubts about whether the church should publish the document, which has already been the subject of three drafts. ... The instruction tries to dampen down the controversy by eschewing a moral line, arguing instead that the presence of homosexuals in seminaries is 'unfair' to both gay and heterosexual priests by subjecting the former to temptation. ... The instruction was drawn up as part of the Vatican's response to the sexual abuse scandal that surfaced in the American church three years ago, which has seen hundreds of priests launch lawsuits against superiors whom they accuse of abusing them.' — The London Observer.
