'Read this book to know it's possible to grow up sane, compassionate and creative in a crazy, cruel, dictatorial world—providing you have guides like Anne Heche.' — Gloria Steinem, quoted on the cover of the new paperback edition of Call Me Crazy by Anne Heche.
'It's not so far long ago that I couldn't even pay my rent. Now I can pay all your rent.' — Sean Hayes, accepting Best Male Actor in a TV Comedy at the March SAG Awards. Accepting the award, Hayes opened his shirt to reveal a mock-diagram on his abdomen, of the six-pack he said the plastic surgeons would make for him the next day. Megan Mullaly also won Best Female Actor in a TV Comedy. Hayes was also a nominee as Best Actor in a TV Movie or Mini-series for his performance as Jerry Lewis in Marin and Lewis.
'Police in Virginia are looking for the thief who stole one of Cher's wigs during a concert. Today, Cher made a special plea to the thief to turn the wig in to the nearest homosexual.' — Conan O'Brien.
'I am just living for the day when I can do a Judy Garland. ... To sit on stage, alone in the spotlight, without costumes or whatever, and to have an orchestra behind me, and to be really able to just deliver!' — Openly gay Andy Bell of the pop duo Erasure to Denver's Out Front, Feb. 12.
'It's a bitter reality that the Castro's historic climate of political resistance has given way to a Homosexual Gentry who see homeless queer youth as an irritant on their way home from Pottery Barn.' — Kirk Read writing in the San Francisco Bay Times, Feb. 20.
'The official acronym for Pride's target groups is LGBTTIQ: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersex and queer. To really keep up with trends, though, they need another T for two-spirited, another Q for questioning and an asterisk for those not included in the defined categories.' — Paul Gallant, managing editor of the Toronto gay newspaper Xtra!, in the Feb. 20 issue.
'We are just about to light the touch paper of all these pockets of Islamic fundamentalism by doing something that is totally illegal. And I think that the British public, through opinion poll after opinion poll, is saying, 'Yes, we know Saddam Hussein is an incredibly dangerous individual, yes, we know his plans are not likely to be altruistic but we can see a larger picture.' And the larger picture is what's terrifying people. People, I think, understand that we're at a watershed. The West and the fundamentalist world are going to be at loggerheads for many, many years if we don't talk now.' — Gay pop-music star George Michael on Britain's Breakfast With Frost program, Feb. 23.
'It's the whole cowboy thing again. But Reagan is beginning to look like an old softie—a day at the beach—compared to Bush.' — Lesbian comedian Kate Clinton to Phoenix's HeatStroke News, Feb. 20.
'Meaning no disrespect to the people who own and operate gay bookstores, as a gay man I buy all kinds of books, and more and more I find them in bookstores for everybody. I think that there was once a huge need for special stores for us special people, but I suspect that that need has been fading away. I mean, I mourn the loss of the Oscar Wilde Bookstore, but when was the last time I was actually in there.' — The Hours author Michael Cunningham to Boston's Bay Windows, Jan. 23. The Oscar Wilde store in New York's Greenwich Village now is set to remain open under new ownership.
'When people get the opportunity to meet you, their stereotypes and prejudices are replaced by their individual feelings toward you.' — Republican, lesbian San Diego County District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis to the Los Angeles Times, Feb. 22. Dumanis is believed to be America's only openly gay D.A.
'All the things we've been fighting for— equality, visibility—once we get them, there will be no more queer culture. In a way, that's fine. In a way, I'm reluctant about ... moving toward acceptance.' — Dykes To Watch Out For cartoonist Alison Bechdel to the Vermont newspaper Out In The Mountains, February issue.
'I was apolitical until I came out—identifying as a lesbian radicalized me. [Until then] I didn't realize I wasn't part of society. When I found out I wasn't, it pissed me off.'— Bechdel.
'Lipstick lesbians may favor makeup and dress-up over political activism, but their very existence rejects the stereotype that femininity is reserved for straight women. ... Veronica Larouche is a petite 47-year-old with shoulder-length auburn hair, a small head, and the serious, taut look of a proper Bostonian. She wears dresses, lipstick, and makeup, and she is the kind of woman who takes her sweet time in front of a mirror before leaving the house. When she does, it's likely to be with her current love interest, a talkative and opinionated blonde named Kim, whom Larouche met two years ago at a monthly social gathering for 'lipstick lesbians' called Cosmetically Correct. Larouche founded the Boston group three years ago for 'feminine women who love and prefer the same,' and while she never expected to meet the love of her life there, there was no resisting Kim, who combines a natural femininity with a strong earthiness. These days, Larouche spends most of her time at Kim's and, in a true sign of lesbian devotion, has upped and moved her two cats into Kim's place.' — Boston Globe March 2 article by male writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis, Putting on a Good Face.
'Misunderstood by mainstream society and discounted as apolitical window dressing by some lesbians, lipstick and femme lesbians are joining social groups and Internet communities, proudly rejecting the idea that femininity is somehow reserved for straight women. While still heavily outnumbered by social groups for, say, lesbian bikers, femme and lipstick lesbians are organizing in ways not seen before: In Boston, feminine lesbians who prefer the same can choose between two social groups, Cosmetically Correct and Femme4Femme. Atlanta boasts the Atlanta Lipstick Lesbians. And on the Internet, there are many new Web sites devoted to femmes. ... It is also what happens when femme and lipstick lesbians loudly reject the gender stereotypes that still permeate much of this country's simplistic thinking about sexuality: namely, that feminine women can't possibly be lesbians (maybe bisexual, but definitely not dykes). And by discounting men completely, feminine lesbians are a subversive force, leading socially and sexually fulfilling lives without men—and debunking the theory that femininity is nothing without masculinity.' — Boston Globe.