"The press, including the L.A. Times, I might add, depicted Rock [ Hudson ] as a man who led a deeply secretive life. He didn't lead a deeply secretive life, he was protected by the industry around him and the journalism establishment around him. He wasn't worried that somebody was going to break into one of those all-boy parties he held up on Beverly Crest. That was simply his entitlement as a movie star. The thing I hate hearing the most is stars and industry people who are still quoted as saying, 'I knew Rock but I didn't know about his private life.' Believe me, if you knew Rock you knew about his private life." — Tales Of The City author Armistead Maupin to the Los Angeles Times, May 5.
"I don't think teenagers need to see two guys kissing on a weekly basis." — Dawson's Creek actor Kerr Smith on his character's recent same-sex French kiss, to Entertainment Weekly magazine, May 11.
"The gay movement hasn't matured; it's grown stale. Pride marches have turned into shopworn cavalcades of been-there, done-that decadence." — Christian Boone writing in the Los Angeles Times, May 7.
"While society as a whole has embraced the flock mentality, it seems even more concentrated among homosexuals. When's the last time you went into a gay club in West Stepford ( er, Hollywood ) and did not hear the familiar pulsing of techno/groove/ambient ( whatever it's now called ) sounds? And how many gay men bought Mazda Miatas when they first came out? As if the cars hit the road affixed with rainbow stickers on the bumper." —Boone writing in the Los Angeles Times.
"I think sexual boredom plays a huge role in the leather scene. This is probably why you don't see too many freshly sprung chicks donning dog collars and sniffing leather boots. There's a reason why most of the bondage elite are over the hill and have a rundown, tattered look about them." — Columnist Paulo Murillo in the Los Angeles gay newspaper Fab!, May 11.
"Are Popeye and Bluto coming out of the closet? That's the debate over a new Minute Maid orange juice commercial. The ad shows the cartoon sailors, usually rivals, bonding on a seesaw and at the beach. They even ride off together on a bike built for two, leaving romantic interest Olive Oyl in the dust." — USA Today, May 11.
[ "Queer As Folk is ] more than just watching people get laid. It's not just about dick. You know, I actually went from filming QAF to doing The Vagina Monologues on stage. I've gone from dick to pussy." — Actress Sharon Gless ( Debbie on Showtime's Queer As Folk ) to Britain's Attitude magazine, issue 82.
"Classic cartoon enemy musclemen Popeye and Bluto haven't kissed but they have made up in a new animated U.S. campaign behind Minute Maid orange juice ... . Though the ad for the orange juice brand is gay vague, a European ad for Coca-Cola Co.'s Minute Maid goes even further in Belgium and France. A young army sergeant, dressed in his formal white uniform, readies himself for work at home with his wife and son, who brandishes a doll dressed like dad. To the tapping of a snare drum, the military officer steps out of the front door of his suburban home toward a driver in a jeep parked at the curb. Just then, a big red American convertible drives up containing the famously gay 1970s band, The Village People, as the song 'In the Navy' plays. At first, the sergeant smirks at them but then, a moment later, he hops in the back seat with the flamboyant band and rides away. The text at the end reads, 'Start your day well, with Minute Maid.' ... " — GFN.COM report April 16. Author Mike Wilke does a website commercialcloset.org .
"In the U.S. ad, Popeye and Bluto have overcome their differences to such a degree that some in the gay community have wondered if the sailors are supposed to suddenly be romantic partners. ... At the end, they ride a two-person bicycle—passing usual romantic interest Olive Oyl without a notice. She offers a confused, if not suspicious, look as they pedal away. Before the campaign was conceived, Dave Linne, the Popeye ad's creative director at ad agency Leo Burnett Co. in Chicago, says the agency did research into the orange juice sector 'to see what aspect of it we could try to own. For some reason, lots of people said that when they started their day with orange juice, their day was off to a good start. It's like the opposite of the cliché of getting up on the wrong side of the bed, so we said, 'What if people wake up in a good mood?' So that's what we decided to own.'" — GFN.COM.
"The only thing I was ever asked questions about [ from the other cast members ] were the, er, mechanics of the sex scenes. They were like, 'Do they, uh, do they really do that?' And I would say, 'Yes. Only harder.' But it was basically about positions and so on. They'd say, 'My girlfriend and I never did that,' to which you can only reply, 'Maybe it's about time you started.'" — U.S. Queer As Folk actor Peter Paige ( Emmet ) to Britain's Attitude magazine, issue 82.
"TV preacher and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson has condoned China's policy of forced abortions, telling CNN's Wolf Blitzer ... that the Chinese are 'doing what they have to do'. Robertson, who has repeatedly blasted legal abortion in the United States, said during an interview on 'Wolf Blitzer Reports' that the Chinese policy is necessary because the country's population has topped 1 billion. Asked by Blitzer to give his thoughts on the forced abortion policy, Robertson replied, 'Well, you know I don't agree with it. But at the same time, they've got 1.2 billion people, and they don't know what to do. ...' Robertson, who acknowledged that he has business interests in China, went on to say that China suffers from 'tremendous unemployment' and is plagued with 'antiquated factories"' owned by the government that will have to be shut down, spawning more loss of jobs. 'And the leadership is like on a teeter-totter board,' he said. 'They can fall off if the population gets too restive. So, I think that right now they are doing what they have to do. I don't agree with forced abortion, but I don't think the United States needs to interfere with what they're doing internally in this regard.'" — Americans United for Separation of Church and State press release. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called Robertson's comments "mind boggling."
