'What about homosexuality is so upsetting to so many people? ... Some people say that it's not natural. Well, actually it is. ... Homosexuality is rampant in the animal kingdom. Airplanes and condoms and televisions and cameras and laptop computers and eyeglasses and etc. are unnatural. Homosexuality actually seems to be quite natural and common.' — Singer Moby on his Web site, Jan. 5.
'Even transgender people, either through expression or surgery, have human rights like everyone else. Thirty years ago, my first lover was a drag queen. Throughout my life, there have been incredible characters who've been drag queens. All of these people deserve to work and to have a roof over their heads.' — Key West, Fla., City Commissioner Tom Oosterhoudt, Jan. 9. Commissioners voted unanimously Jan. 6 to ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression.
'Outside [the locker room], I don't care. But I would let him go into the shower alone.' — New York Jets defensive back Nick Ferguson on gay football players, to the Howard Stern radio program, Jan. 10. Asked how many gay players the Jets have, Ferguson said, 'None.'
'It's California, after all. It is not far from San Francisco.' — New York Jets defensive back Nick Ferguson, asked on the Howard Stern radio program how many gay players the Oakland Raiders have, Jan. 10.
'Leona Helmsley testified that she fired a former hotel manager because he broke company rules, not because he is gay. The manager, Charles Bell, is suing Helmsley for $40 million in the wrongful termination claim. He contends that he was dismissed from his post at the Park Lane Hotel in Manhattan because of his sexual orientation.' — Gay.com .
'The Leona Helmsley discrimination trial —a.k.a. The Leather Queen vs. The Queen of Mean—has been tabloid heaven, spinning the New York Post into scandal overdrive and sending The New York Times running for cover.' — Newsday's Michelangelo Signorile.
'Leona Helmsley says she didn't fire Charles Bell because he's gay—she 'absolutely' canned him because she thought he was a crybaby dope fiend.' New York Post.
'The case has included explicit derogatory language about homosexual sex, pejorative slang terms for gay men, and charges and countercharges of highly unusual hotel behavior, both gay and straight. The stress on the woman who became a symbol of 1980's excess was evident from the moment she took the stand. She seemed to break down midway through her first answer, while stating and spelling her name in a loud, clear voice. 'L-e-o-n-a,' she said. 'H-e-l-m,' then she stopped, lowering her head and appearing to sob. The courtroom, crowded to overflowing for the first time since the trial began, waited several moments for the rest. It came out almost inaudibly: 's-l-e-y.'' — The New York Times.
'Senator Hatch is making a mockery of the confirmation process. He is trying to ensure that some nominees for powerful lifetime positions on the federal appeals courts will get little if any serious scrutiny. At the same time, he has called for additional hearings on Charles Pickering and Priscilla Owen even though they were rejected last year after extensive public hearings into their records on civil rights and other issues. Senator Hatch is showing disrespect for the Constitution and for his colleagues.' — People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas on the Senate's breaking with a bipartisan agreement dating to the 1980s. Orrin Hatch scheduled a single hearing to examine three controversial nominees to lifetime seats on the federal appeals courts. See www.pfaw.org/independent_judiciary.
'President Bush's 'faith-based initiative' is rapidly dismantling the wall of separation between church and state. PFAW opposes the administration's efforts to undermine a core constitutional principle that protects all Americans' religious liberty, and its attempts to accomplish by executive fiat what it could not get passed through Congress, including reported plans to 'voucherize' the provision of social services.' — Neas.
'Remarkably, President Bush didn't say anything at all about his judicial nominees, who could have a longer-term impact on Americans than anything else he does as president. He didn't tell Americans that if the Senate allows him to fill the federal judiciary with judges who embrace a radical states' rights approach to the Constitution, the next generation of Americans will suffer the loss of fundamental rights, liberties, and protections that they have enjoyed for decades. And the president had nothing to say about Americans' constitutional liberties, which have been steadily undermined by his administration's policies, such as secret and indefinite detentions and denial of the right to counsel.' — People For the American Way.
'Grand Rapids Community College President Juan Olivarez banned the further performance of Terrence McNally's Corpus Christi at Actors Theater on campus. ... Bowing to pressure from [Michigan] State Rep. Jerry Kooiman who threatened funding to the college, Olivarez canceled performances of the play.' — From a press release.
'The cost difference between a 117-player roster verses a 90-man roster is about $800,000 ... the average wrestling team costs $300,000. Put money and proportion to good use, and you save a wrestling program. It's not Title IX that threatens men's sports, but the entitlement of football programs. It's not manufactured women's teams, but mythical revenues from football. It's not excess of women's uniforms, but the $250,000 Oregon spent on a 34th Street billboard in Manhattan for a Heisman Trophy candidate. Yet, out of the jumble of fix-it strategies for Title IV—many emerging from the subjective minds of a Bush administration commission this past week—there was no insistence on football reform.' — Columnist Selena Roberts in The New York Times Feb. 2.
'Since Title IX ... was enacted in 1972, women in National Collegiate Athletic Association sports programs have grown from fewer than 30,000 to almost 151,000 in 2000. At the high school level, female athletes increased from 294,000 to nearly 2.8 million during the same time period. ... It is men's teams who get cut and capped to create opportunities for women. Or at least, that's what college officials tell shocked and disappointed wrestlers, swimmers, lacrosse players and others ... . Just once, I would like to hear an NCAA Division I-A program administrator say something honest like, 'I'm sorry but we've got to cut the wrestling program so we can keep our football bench bloated with 85 scholarships.' ... Mend it, [Secretary of Education Rod Paige]; don't end it. Opening sports opportunities for women does not have to mean shutting the door unfairly on opportunities for men.' — Tribune columnist Clarence Page Feb. 2.
