"It's kind of neat that they settled on the worst title in the history of television, huh? I mean, it's just dreadful." -; Jason Bateman who plays gay Warren on CBS TV's Some of My Best Friends, to Atlanta's Etcetera magazine, March 16.
"I hope they don't try to serve a social function but 90 percent of our writing staff is gay, and if they feel like they want to say something, it's certainly their right. I think there is some say about tolerance and perception and acceptance. I don't think they have to be any more heavy-handed than they have been." -; Bateman.
"If he's trying to be ambiguous so he keeps a career of heterosexual roles alive, then he [ Sean Hayes, who plays Jack on TV's Will & Grace ] oughta stop being so great at being a queen. He's getting awards for it! You know, you're almost hipper and cooler for being gay nowadays. It used to be that if you wanted to hip up your image, you'd get yourself a drug problem. Now it's be gay or bi." -; Bateman.
"It's not Eminem's critics who should be worried about the Grammy nominations. It's his fans. Indeed, such official acceptance brings Eminem one step closer to what sociologists at the School of Hard Knocks have identified as the Elvisification of the Cultural Rebel. Put simply, the Grammys—not to mention a post-duet hug by a titled member of the British aristocracy-;are the first step in the domestication of Eminem, of his certain transmogrification from hate-filled, anxiety-inducing bad boy to lovable, 100 percent safe pop dreamboat." -; Suck.com, March 23.
"A large part of our audience are straight women, who are involved with the characters and turned on by the show. There's a long history of men being enthralled by the idea of two women being together, and women haven't had access to that. They're finding it surprisingly exciting." -; Actor Peter Paige who plays Emmett Honeycutt on Showtime's Queer As Folk, to the Boston Globe, March 20.
"My gay leatherdaddy ... happens to dig the dude, so he played every track from The Marshall Mathers LP for me. I must say that his stuff is a lot more complicated than the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation press releases would have me believe. Is Eminem truly evil, or is he simply saying what America is thinking? Nearly half of the country elected a drunk-driving, double-talking idiot and a conservative politician who adamantly supports antigay legislation even though his own daughter is an out lesbian. Eminem's lips may be the ones that are moving, but he's not the only one with homophobia and misogyny on his mind." -; Tristan Taormino writing in New York City's Village Voice, May 9.
"Love is love, whether you're gay or straight. The gay character that I play is non-stereotypical when one thinks about how many gay men are portrayed in films. That is why I took the role. It is one of the best gay roles I have seen in film. His sexuality is not really even brought into the picture until he eyes someone in a bar and Julia Roberts' character asks him point blank if he is gay since he is staring at the guy. When it is brought up, it is done in a very tasteful way." -; Sopranos actor James Gandolfini on his role in the new film The Mexican, to Boston's Bay Windows, March 9.
"Today Parisians freely chose change in the capital. Tonight hearts are moved among all those who for so long dreamed of putting Paris back on the road of the future, the road of imagination and of hope." -; Openly gay Socialist Bertrand Delanoe, 50, upon being elected mayor of Paris, France, March 18.
"Yes, I'm a homosexual. Perhaps I'm underestimating the consequences of the discussion we are having today, but I'm 48 years old. ... I must live with my convictions ... and my career has never been the most important thing to me." -; Newly elected Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe in a 1998 TV interview.
"With an openly gay mayor [ and ] gays and lesbians dancing to 'I Will Survive' under a rainbow flag in front of City Hall ... some are having a hard time believing their eyes and ears. ... Sunday night was a taste of something never seen before." -; Gay.com France Editor Olivier Monnot in a March 19 article.
"Among the others who live in the house [ on NBC's new TV series First Years ] and struggle for recognition at the law firm is—hold on to your remotes now—a gay guy! Good heavens, what originality, what boldness, what daring! Naturally, he's a gay guy without a boyfriend, without any apparent interest in sex, perhaps without genitalia. There's something insulting—to everybody—about such lazy mechanical calculation." -Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales, March 19.
"Gay audiences get jokes faster. ... I think they are essentially hipper. You can sort of be more intellectual. It's really interesting. It's really true. You can be more subtle, too." -; Actress Julie Brown of Comedy Central's Strip Mall to Atlanta's Southern Voice, March 8.
