" [ International Mr. Leather ] didn't make the cut for the inauguration party, even though he has a connection through Mary Cheney through Coors [ the duo travelled together across the country, promoting Coors ] . Maybe he could spend his time at the Washington Monument or maybe he could get an appointment with the majority whip." -; The host for the National Enquirer's Uncovered show on Chicago Channel 50.
"I don't go in the locker rooms. And I don't pat butts. It sounds corny, but being a pioneer I've gotta be extra careful." -; Openly gay Oberlin College Athletic Director Mike Muska to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Dec. 10. Muska is apparently the only openly gay college athletic director in the nation.
"I don't see this as a revolution. I was qualified to be the athletic director here and it just happens that I'm gay. I'd like to think that 10 years from now there might be a few other 'out' athletic directors. But colleges have to decide when they're ready to do these kinds of things. I don't hear Notre Dame calling." -; Muska.
"What assumptions do you make about someone before or during casual sex? That he's HIV negative because he's twenty-one and just moved to your town from Kansas City? That he's lost many friends to AIDS because he's forty and lives in San Francisco? That he's HIV positive because he wants you to fuck him without a condom? Or that he's HIV negative because he just fucked you raw and would have told you if he were positive?" -; Writer and activist Tony Valenzuela writing at gaywired.com, Jan. 7.
"It is very important not to characterize the [ recently passed ] Nebraska anti-gay, anti-family, constitutional amendment as being about marriage alone. The Nebraska amendment sweepingly bars gay people from all family protection under state law, at all levels of government big or small, and in fact spells out that gay people must be excluded from marriage, from respect for domestic partnership, from civil unions and from 'any other similar relationship.' What's clear is that the right-wing is maintaining a steady attack-;state-by-state as well as nationally-;on gay people's freedom to marry as well as any form of protection or respect for our family relationships. They are desperately eager to erect legal barriers and prevent us from having protections for our family, and to try to shut down the discussion that our movement for the freedom to marry has engendered all around the country. They don't want non-gay people hearing real life stories about committed gay couples. They don't want people talking about how excluding gay people from marriage hurts our kids, how it makes no sense as a matter of public policy, and contradicts the rest of their rhetoric about the importance of supporting families." -; Evan Wolfson, director of the Marriage Project at the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, to The American Prospect, Dec. 26.
EXCERPTS FROM PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTON'S MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, Jan. 15, 2001:
"Despite all the progress we have made in tearing down walls of segregation and barriers of opportunity, an old enemy lurks in the shadows. It continues to poison our perceptions, undermine our progress and threaten our future. Racial equality has been our nation's constant struggle, predating the nation's founding by a century and a half. And race has been our constant struggle.
" ... The fact is, important gaps in civil rights law and their enforcement remain. We need to ensure equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability or sexual orientation. To that end, I challenge the new Congress and Administration to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act ( ENDA ) . I believe that the simple business of enforcing anti-discrimination laws should be a bipartisan commitment. We should be able to agree on at least this much: enforce the law and promote voluntary compliance with it.
"Recommendation: Redouble our efforts to end all forms of discrimination against any group of Americans by expanding investments in civil rights enforcement and passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
" ... There is nothing more important to the future of this country than our standing together against intolerance, prejudice, and violent bigotry. No American should be subjected to violence on account of his or her race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender or disability. Americans of conscience were horrified by the vicious murder of James Byrd, Jr. in Jasper, Texas and the cowardly torture-murder of Matthew Shepard in Wyoming. But we must do more than shake our heads in shame: we must back up our outrage with tough sanctions against those who perpetuate these crimes. Hate crimes are criminal acts driven by bias against another person's race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity. In 1999, the FBI reported 7,876 incidents of such crimes. Of these, more than 60% were based on the victim's race or ethnicity. It is suspected that many more go unreported. I am proud that my Administration has stood strong against hate crimes through vigorous prosecution under the civil rights statutes, but there is much more to do.
" ... In addition to removing jurisdictional barriers, the revised Hate Crimes Prevention Act will strengthen current law by giving Federal prosecutors the power to prosecute hate crimes committed because of the victim's sexual orientation, gender, or disability. The federal government did not have the legal jurisdiction to prosecute Matthew Shepard's murderers under current law. Because of the lack of jurisdiction, federal law enforcement was not able to provide significant resources to help local law enforcement in that case. The local sheriff's office had to furlough law enforcement officers because of the costs of the investigation and subsequent prosecution. With this new legislation, this would never have happened. Matthew, a 21-year old college freshman, was beaten in the dead of night, tied to a fence, and left to die alone. At Matthew's funeral, his cousin predicted that 'Matt will have made a difference in the lives of thousands.' I want to make sure he does. Congress and the next Administration should enact a law that provides justice for all Americans.
"Opponents of the civil rights legislation in the 1960s often said, 'You can't legislate morality.' It is true that a statute cannot exorcise hate—that is a personal demon that calls for a moral cleansing. But law does have a function in proclaiming our values and differentiating right from wrong. In that sense, over time, law can squeeze hate out of our public lives and eventually out of all but the most diseased hearts. The starting point is to make violent acts of hate against our neighbors a federal crime. And we should do it. ... Recommendation: Recognize that hate crimes do damage not only to the victims, but to the moral fiber of our nation. They are different from other crimes and they deserve to be treated as such. The new Congress and Administration should pass the revised Hate Crimes Prevention Act without further delay."
