"PEOPLE WOULD come up to me and start crying so hard that I would end up taking care of them. It was hard to get through because there wasn't time to privately mourn. So I didn't mourn mom's death for months." ... Lucie Arnaz on her mom Lucille Ball's death in July A&U, Arts & Understanding magazine, www.aumag.org
"I MADE A LIST one time for the AIDS Quilt. I had 20 names on the list, and that was 10 years ago. And those aren't just acquaintances or people that I used to know. These are like my agents, a cousin, a hairdresser, and directors. I've lost track now. I've been touched by AIDS probably more than a lot of people, oddly enough." ... Arnaz.
"They all seem happy, so I don't want to criticize them. It's just that this kind of gay culture seems like it's all on Prozac or something. People have the gym body and the average this and the average that, and nothing is exceptional." ... Gay singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright on New York City's Chelsea district, to The New York Times, June 24.
"I was in front of the [ gay coffeeshop ] Big Cup when these two guys holding hands walked past and one of them muttered, 'Get a haircut.' That's what uptight parents were saying to liberated kids in the '60s. Gay people have come full circle, I guess. Maybe that's why the press is so obsessed with gays who want to be Boy Scouts." ... Rufus Wainwright on New York City's Chelsea district, to The New York Times, June 24.
"Who knew that when the rainbow flag was created in 1978 it would lead to this? What began as a symbol of lesbian and gay pride has become an extensively marketed symbol of, well, extensive marketing. Every year, the arrival of Pride weekend causes hordes of otherwise reasonable human beings to drape themselves from head to toe in rainbows. This is not necessarily a bad thing...no more awful than, say, forgetting to call home on Mother's Day. It's just that the rainbow-donning instinct might leave others wondering if these otherwise reasonable human beings are heading for night jobs as circus clowns." ... Kim Severson and Dave Ford writing in the San Francisco Chronicle, June 22.
"I'm calling for an international boycott on sex with closeted celebrities. Let The Great Boinking Boycott begin. Imagine if all the queer people on the planet simply refused to have sex with these Hollywood hypocrites; it would only be a matter of a few months before sweaty, pop-eyed superstars would show up on Larry King shouting, 'Yes, yes, I admit it, I'm gay...now would someone please come sit on my face?' I say, let's bring these people to their knees...literally." ... Syndicated columnist Marc Acito in a July filing.
"This is about a group of young people whose lives are portrayed in a way that will be controversial for many, but no one would blink an eye if they were straight. It's very defensible on those terms." ... Showtime network CEO Matthew Blank in reference to Queer As Folk, on the MSNBC program Gay Hollywood Comes Out, which aired during June.
"I didn't want it [ the Jack role on Will & Grace ] . I didn't. I wanted to pursue other things. I'd just played a gay character in a movie, and it was a big concern of mine. So, when I was offered it, I initially turned it down and then gave it a week and then I was like, wait a minute, I want it." ... Sean Hayes to the MSNBC program Gay Hollywood Comes Out. Hayes had just starred in Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss.
"I'm not worried about it anymore [ playing gay ] . I mean, obviously. I got an Emmy. It's like, now I can say, 'Yeah, I'm not worried about it any more. It's a good show.'" ... Hayes.
"I think Elton John would sing with a toilet-roll holder if he thought it would get him more publicity." ... Boy George on Elton John's Grammy Awards duet with Eminem as quoted by peoplenews.com, June 28.
"It's sad that he has to stoop to that level [ of being homophobic in his music ] . I'd still shag him, though." ... Boy George on Eminem as quoted by peoplenews.com, June 28.
"As a straight, single, childless, peace-loving woman in her 30s, I will ... point out that marriage, child-rearing, and military service are not so much dreams to me as outright nightmares. I feel the same way about marriage, parenthood, and joining the Marines as I do about modern dance or voting Republican...people should be allowed to do those things, but why would they want to? I find it fascinating and heartbreaking that gays and lesbians must wage these ongoing legal battles to win the basic right to engage in activities ( such as getting engaged ) that I would cross international borders barefoot to avoid." ... Sarah Vowell writing in the Seattle weekly newspaper The Stranger, June 21.
"Males of all species are especially poor at monogamy, and we predict that sexual monogamy in gay relationships would be particularly rare. Put two sperm-squirters together, and the likelihood is that one or the other or both... following their biology and perhaps in spite of their 'higher' yearnings...is/are going to be unfaithful. ... Biologists used to believe otherwise, but DNA testing has revealed that while some animal species, mostly birds, are socially monogamous, virtually none are sexually monogamous. Even geese and swans cheat." ... Judith Eve Lipton, M.D., and David P. Barash, Ph.D., writing in the Seattle weekly newspaper The Stranger, June 21.
"I have never understood how women who profess to love the beauty of other women end up looking like the Three Stooges. Shaved heads, oversized shirts, filthy sneakers and shorts so long they qualify as slightly shrunken pants are the rule of the day. Is this not somehow missing the point? Why not date Red, the guy ... who changes your oil?" ... Traci Vogel writing in the Seattle weekly newspaper The Stranger, June 21.
"Even when New York magazine took the plunge and officially outed [ Rosie ] O'Donnell recently, her publicist was characteristically obtuse in responding. 'Rosie's sexuality has never been important to her and it's not going to be now,' the spokesperson said in a statement. 'I don't think it's important to her public.' The statement is almost Orwellian. Clearly O'Donnell's sexual orientation is an immensely important issue for her, otherwise she would not work so hard keeping one foot in the closet, while letting the other dangle out. After all, this is a woman who prattles daily on her talk show...and in her brand new, Oprah-esque magazine...all about every other aspect of her personal life." ... Southern Voice Executive Editor Chris Crain in a June 14 editorial.
"Lesbian editors are taking over the gay press. Is this a good thing? From East Coast to West, gay newspapers are increasingly being led by lesbian editors. From the Philadelphia Gay News to the San Francisco Bay Times and Los Angeles Frontiers, gay women are editing papers that have an overwhelmingly male readership. It's happening on the national scene, too. The largest newsmagazine ( The Advocate ) , the largest lifestyle magazine ( Out ) , and the two largest websites ( PlanetOut/Gay.com ) are headed by gay women. More and more, lesbians are deciding what gay men read. This should make everyone nervous. The lesbian community is notorious for their Gestapo-like adherence to political correctness." ... Syndicated gay columnist Michael Alvear in a July 1 filing. [ Hmmmm ... and Windy City Times also has a female editor, Michael. Wonder if you ever complained that an estimated more than 90% of gay publications are run by men, and researched what that meant for coverage of lesbian issues...maybe it is part of the reason they have an "overwhelmingly male readership"? Also note that even though many publications have female editors, very few actually are owned by women. Windy City Times has both male and female owners. ... The female editor. ]
