'It's a good thing that I am not his daughter then. Maybe it's too bad I'm not.' — Martina Navratilova speaking in Australia Dec. 29 in response to a comment by Damir Dokic that he'd commit suicide if his daughter, tennis star Jelena Dokic, were a lesbian.
'More than 40 percent of women in world tennis are lesbians. I couldn't stand it if Jelena turned out to be one of them. I'd kill myself.' — Damir Dokic, father of tennis star Jelena Dokic, to the Serbian newspaper Svet.
'Aww, hell no! I don't want any faggots on my team. I know this might not be what people want to hear, but that's a punk. I don't want any faggots in this locker room.' — San Francisco 49ers running back Garrison Hearst quoted in The Fresno [CA] Bee, Nov. 1.
'It is a completely different type of society we've got today. It's much more open and understanding.' — Chicago Mayor Richard Daley appointing openly gay restaurant owner Tom Tunney to the City Council to fill a seat vacated by Alderman Bernie Hansen for health reasons, to WLS-TV, Dec. 19.
'If we can change Cracker Barrel, we can change anybody.' — Atlanta activist Lynn Cothren to the Detroit News Dec. 24 on the 12-year battle to get the Cracker Barrel Old Country Stores chain to accept gay employees. The company has abandoned its policy of firing anyone 'whose sexual preferences fail to demonstrate normal heterosexual values' and instituted a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.
'Gay left-wingers, many nursing hangovers from the '60s, ... spend most of their time arguing with each other, usually with the firm belief that unless you share their personal views, you are probably a registered sex offender or shortly will be. Even more intriguing than neocons.' — Advocate columnist Bruce Vilanch in the Jan. 21, 2003 issue.
'I'm essentially a lazy son-of-a-bitch and given my druthers, I'd rather stay home. I'm not that fond of making movies. It's the medium where the artist has the least to say about what's done. After several takes, the editor and director come in and they decide what version of the scene they like best, they cut it up and very much manufacture performances. I know a lot of people who are big movie stars who can't act to save their lives. If you do enough takes with them, there's something to glue together.' — Actor Harvey Fierstein to Genre magazine, January issue.
'The stereotype of a fag hag is of a high-strung, needy woman—Debra Messing and Megan Mullally on television's Will & Grace, Julia Roberts in My Best Friend's Wedding and Tori Spelling in the indie comedy Trick. Their foils are always gay men who can't seem to get any. In some ways, the relationships are adolescent, possessive and co-dependent. My gay friends and I chuckle at the parody, which at times rings true.' — Vanessa Hua writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 26.
'People talk of coming out as if it were a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. Once you have uttered the words 'I've got something to tell you...', it is assumed, you need never return to the subject. The opposite is true. Practically every day one wonders whether or not to say something. The love that dares not speak its name is, rather, the love that knows when to keep its mouth shut.' — Colin Richardson writing in London's The Guardian.
'His purpose was always to make you look good. He had an extremely elegant aesthetic. Some photographers are working so hard to be elegant that they pummel you with it, but to Herb it came effortlessly. Some photographers embalm their subjects, but he enlivened them.' — Actor Richard Gere on gay photographer Herb Ritts who died Dec. 26 of pneumonia at age 50, to The New York Times7.
'Some guys set up some rather interesting dynamics in their lives, for all practical purposes having two boyfriends—the actual boyfriend for sex only and the best friend for emotional intimacy only.' — Columnist Michelangelo Signorile in New York City's Gay City News, Dec. 20.
'Grace got her man. But will Will get his? I hope so. But I may be disappointed. This is network television, after all: eager to make money but not eager to offend the majority. To its credit, NBC did much good by putting Will & Grace on the air. Now America is laughing along WITH gays, not just at gays. But all is not progress. Designed to appeal to the masses, Will is a safe and non-threatening gay man with a virtually non-existent sex life.' — Columnist Rae Riebe writing in the Iowa daily newspaper Cedar Rapids Gazette, Dec. 26.
'On paper, the story sounds promising: Middle-aged doctor finds love but stays deep in the closet, comes out during a clash with her homophobic boss, struggles with her own homophobia, endures humiliation, is outed by a lover, grows as a person, stands proud. On screen, though, the story was given scant time. Viewers had to connect the dots to figure out what was going on. NBC promos avoided mentions of the plot. And now that she's out, ER doesn't know what to do with [Dr. Kerry] Weaver.' — Columnist Rae Riebe writing in the Iowa daily newspaper Cedar Rapids Gazette, Dec. 26.
'I have always been wary of this show. It can be great one week, bad the next. ... But here is what I find strange about the show— it claims to be about a gay man and his straight flatmate, but the series is neither about Will and Grace (Jack and Karen steal the show every time) nor about being gay. Really it is about two heterosexual couples, Will and Grace, and Jack and Karen, who just don't happen to have sex with each other.' — Reviewer Sophie Cunningham in the Australian daily newspaper The Age, Dec. 28.
'She smelled so nice. You kiss an actor and you don't know what they are going to smell like. But you kiss a girl and she is going to smell good. And she's very soft. They're soft and they smell nice. Guys don't.' — Actress Julianne Moore on kissing actress Toni Collette in the new film The Hours, to Britain's Sunday Mirror, Dec. 29.
'Washington remains one of the most closeted places in the country, even more than the South. It forces you to be dishonest about who you are, and that hurts you.' — Outgoing Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director Rich Tafel to the Houston Voice, Dec. 27.
'Opposition to Bush Administration calls for a unilateral invasion [of Iraq] is a goal that the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force wholeheartedly supports. In the aftermath of September 11th, we have grown increasingly alarmed that under the guise of a nation at war, the Bush Administration has eviscerated many of the fundamental principles upon which this nation was founded and which are at the very core of our free and democratic society. Without the constitutional rights and protections now being gutted by this Administration, our GLBT movement would not be where it is today. All of us are endangered by the behavior of this Administration, especially its use of the post 9/11 climate of fear to advance their broader political goals.' — National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Lorri Jean, Dec. 27