You see a lot of young actors who have no problem with it [ being out ] . ... They've come up in another generation, where they pop out of the womb and into a parade!— Nathan Lane.
'The Bush administration plans to allow religious groups for the first time to use federal housing money to help build centers where religious worship is held, as long as part of the building is also used for social services. The policy shift, which was made in a rule that the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed this month, significantly expands the administration's contentious religion-based initiative.' — New York Times, Jan. 22.
' [ TWO ] years into the Bush presidency, it is apparent that reversing or otherwise eviscerating the Supreme Court's momentous 1973 ruling that recognized a woman's fundamental right to make her own childbearing decisions is indeed [ President ] Bush's mission. The lengthening string of anti-choice executive orders, regulations, legal briefs, legislative maneuvers and key appointments emanating from his administration suggests that undermining the reproductive freedom essential to women's health, privacy and equality is a major preoccupation of his administration—second only, perhaps, to the war on terrorism. As the 30th anniversary of the Roe decision approaches, women's right to safe, legal abortions is in dire peril. ... People can debate whether Mr. Bush's various efforts to dismantle Roe and block women's right to choose around the globe flow from his own deeply felt moral or religious beliefs, or merely cater to extreme elements within his party. What is important is the actual impact of the presidential assault: women's constitutional liberty has been threatened, essential reproductive health care has been denied or delayed, and some women will needlessly die. ' — New York Times editorial Jan. 12, 2003.
'Justice Antonin Scalia of the United States Supreme Court said [ Jan. 12 ] that the courts had gone overboard in keeping God out of government. Justice Scalia, speaking at a religious event, said the constitutional wall between church and state had been misinterpreted by the Supreme Court and lower courts. ... Justice Scalia used the event to repeat criticisms that the Constitution is being interpreted liberally.' — From an Associated Press story.
'The fact that I'm gay and a Republican boggles some people's minds. But I just like to look at things from every angle.' — Bonnie Dumanis, who was sworn in as America's first openly gay district attorney Jan. 6 in San Diego, to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Jan. 5.
'I didn't bat an eyelash when PM Jean Chrétien's communications director Françoise Ducros called Bush a 'moron' at last month's NATO summit. The American media, though, went absolutely apeshit. So it bears repeating: Bush is as big a moron today as he was on September 10.' — Syndicated Canadian gay columnist Richard Burnett, Jan. 6.
'On the AIDS front, with federal budget cutbacks and a hostile Bush administration in league with religious nuts, things look grim.' — Reporter Andy Humm in New York City's Gay City News, Jan. 3.
'I ... think of the Bible as great literature rather than great history; great imagination rather than reliable witness. Whatever, it is not as a law book that I respect the Bible.' — Gay actor Ian McKellen at mckellen.com, Jan. 21.
'I can't imagine.' — David Cicilline, the new openly gay mayor of Providence, R.I., when asked by the Boston Globe Jan. 6 why he didn't figure out he was gay until he was in his 30s.
'For me, the top/bottom dichotomy is both too rigid and too exclusive. It implies you're one or the other, when maybe the real answer is 'neither' or 'never' or 'sometimes' or 'not tonight.'' — Columnist Brent Ledger in Toronto's Xtra!, Dec. 26.
'The prostate is a very sensitive gland or organ that resides between the rectum and the bladder. There are nerve endings in the prostate which connect to the base of the spinal cord and directly to the brain. Stimulation of the prostate with a finger, dildo, penis or other sex toy can be very pleasurable.' — Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, director of STD Prevention and Control Services for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, in a recent online chat on Gay.com .
'There are a fair amount of data looking at the [ HIV ] risk for tops versus bottoms [ during barebacking ] . It's all a numbers game and one that I don't recommend playing. The risk for a bottom may be one in 50, for a top one in 500, but tops definitely do get infected.' — Dr. Jeffrey Klausner.
'The male rectum, with practice and lots of lubrication, can take a lot of size. ... Bottom line: Go slow and use lots of lubrication. The anus can be made larger with practice and beginning with one finger, then two, etc. As far as deeper damage, that is very uncommon, unless the objects are sharp. Have fun.' — Dr. Jeffrey Klausner.
'I have lost a quarter of a million dollars over the last six years and I just can't take it anymore. ... The impact of the chain bookstores has been large. They cherry-pick us. They get the benefit of the best sellers so they pick up the best sales.' — Larry Lingle on his decision to close the legendary Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop in New York City's Greenwich Village, to The New York Times.
'If my ass helps the film, I don't have a problem with that.' — Actor George Clooney, 41, on his decision to show his bare butt in the 2002 film Solaris, to the German edition of Playboy, February issue.
'Lots of gay men relate to celebrity divas —from Bette Davis to Madonna—grooving on the style, grit, and downright bitchiness that gives those gals power in a man's world. So, when they're using the 'she' pronoun for a guy they're often foisting diva status on him—it may seem like a complete insult, but it's often actually a backhanded compliment.' — Columnist Michelangelo Signorile, New York City's Gay City News, Jan. 3.
'Bill Clinton's [ 100 or so ] gay appointees met with fierce resistance in the Senate, with none other than Trent Lott blocking Clinton's efforts to make openly gay James Hormel the ambassador to Luxembourg simply because he was gay. It's clearly a sign of progress that Republicans didn't do the same to their own president. But if it weren't for the advances that Clinton and the Democrats accomplished in the 1990s ... George W. Bush would have not even appointed these measly six individuals, and, if he had, the Republican Party would not have stayed quiet about it.' — Columnist Michelangelo Signorile, New York City's Gay City News, Jan. 3.
'There are some people that the press likes to pick on, and not just the gay press. ... And some people, the press just doesn't care about at all. I seem to always inspire a strong reaction one way or the other.' — Nathan Lane to New York City's Gay City News.
'You see a lot of young actors who have no problem with it [ being out ] . But they're young; they haven't lived through the shame! They've come up in another generation, where they pop out of the womb and into a parade! On a big float! I came from a very, very, you know, working class—this was not—it's this huge issue to overcome, just on a personal level.' — Nathan Lane.
'It got to be where I had to make some sort of statement [ about being gay ] , and then that seemed weird: 'Why do I have to make a statement when I've been living this way all the time?' I needed time to think about it, to figure it out. It's a cliché, but there really is no handbook about the celebrity thing; you have to figure it out as you go along. People have to do things in their own time, and that's what I did.' — Nathan Lane.
