"Lesbian rocker Melissa Etheridge has finally mended her broken heart—by dating a hot young actress 14 years her junior. Etheridge, who just turned 40 and is on the rebound from her breakup with Julie Cypher, is seeing Tammy Lynn Michaels, a 26-year-old blonde who stars in the hit TV series Popular. 'I want to jump up and go "Woo-woo!"' a jubilant Etheridge tells next week's People magazine. 'I figure I'm doing the early mid-life crisis, dating a 26-year-old and buying a Camaro.'" -; Bill Hoffmann, Fox News, June 7.
"IN THE EYES of Washington, Sen. Jim Jeffords took on a whole new identity last week. Switching parties is a big deal here, akin to a sex-change operation. But in Vermont, the Jeffords of this week seems little different from last week's-;independent, pro-tree, pro-choice, pro-special ed. — Columnist Margaret Carlson, Time magazine June 4 issue.
"KERR SMITH [ who plays gay for Dawson's Creek on TV ] said 'I don't think teenagers need to see two guys kissing on a weekly basis.' I would pose the question: why not? We see much more than kissing from heterosexual couples on network TV. What is so objectionable about two guys kissing on as regular a basis as you see a man and a woman kissing? I can't think of anything other than positive effects that it would have on an audience to see affection being shared by two men, especially on a primarily teenage audience, many of whom are probably struggling with their own sexual identities." -; Letter-writer Doug Thorsen of Rockford, Ill., to Entertainment Weekly June 1.
"YOU'D THINK a 29-year-old actor who seems to be building a career playing gay characters ( Dawson's Creek and gay roles in The Broken Hearts Cub and Hit and Runway ) would be past this insulting 'Eww, gross!' attitude. Just what fan base do you hope to cultivate with these roles and that attitude?" -; Letter-writer Kevin Howell of Brooklyn to EW.
"NOT ONLY WAS [ Black gay author Samuel ] Delany writing openly and unapologetically about sex, his characters were all antiheros, squatters living on scraps on the fringes of society. At a science fiction conference, a disgruntled academic leaned over and demanded of him, 'Why are you writing about these people?' 'Because they exist' he responded." -; From a June 8 Entertainment Weekly feature on the re-issue of some of Samuel Delaney's best works, including the million-selling 1975 sci-fi classic Dhalgren, which until recently was out of print. Vintage Books is reissuing his classics.
"AMID THE RUBBLE, men and women, men and men, blacks and whites engage in sweaty, urgent couplings. When the book was first published, conservative readers bristled at what the author refers to as the novel's 'polymorphous perverse sexuality.'" -; Entertainment Weekly describing Dhalgren, based on life in an abandoned Harlem.
"Whereas the intact heterosexual family unit is ordained by God as clearly revealed in the Holy Bible ( Gen 2:23, 24 Matt 19:4-6 ) ; and whereas large bodies of research support the conclusion that intact heterosexual families provide an excellent nurturing environment for children; and whereas many believe that intact heterosexual families provide a necessary source of stability that benefits society as a whole; and whereas intact heterosexual family units provide much needed stability and moral direction for children and young adults; and whereas intact heterosexual families provide sexual satisfaction for the men and women who are committed to them; and whereas when monogamy is practiced, the husbands and wives who enjoy sexual relations in the confines of their heterosexual marriage have no reason to worry about STDs, AIDS or broken hearts. Now therefore I, Pat Fiacco, Mayor of the City of Regina, do hereby proclaim Monday, June 18, 2001, as Heterosexual Family Pride Day in Regina, and in issuing this proclamation, ask our citizens to recognize this day." -; Strangeness from the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.
"I don't think it was an issue [ that I was open about being gay at the beginning of my career ] . The fact that I was very honest with it from the beginning kind of neutralized it. In fact, it might have been an asset, which is something I would tell anyone out there who is gay. For all the detractors, there are a lot of people with open arms who are willing to help you." -; Singer Rufus Wainwright to the Los Angeles Times, May 27.
"What do you do when you're too fat to be a twink and not fat enough to be a bear?" -; Columnist R.M. Vaughan in Toronto's Xtra!, May 17.
"All I have to do is cry my way across the wasteland of my 30s because the minute I turn 40 I am technically a Daddy. And then all the twinks who would rather swallow their soothers than rub my Buddha tummy will suddenly want to sit on my lap and play Where Did Uncle Richard Touch You?" -; Columnist R.M. Vaughan in Toronto's Xtra!, May 17.
"No matter what anyone says, no matter what people do, gay men and lesbians have absolutely nothing in common. The fact we have sex with people of our own gender is not something which makes us similar, it makes us so completely dissimilar." -; Letter to Toronto's Xtra! from reader Bill Wayne, May 17.
"You'd think with so many gay male flight attendants the outfits would look better. ... If gay men ran the union, they'd bring back those go-go boots and cute little pillbox hats." — Columnist Marc Acito in the Portland, Ore., gay newspaper Just Out, May 18.
"It wasn't very long ago at all that I lived in New York City, fresh out of grad school, going out, auditioning for off-Broadway, and getting very close but not getting anything and really wondering if I was ever going to get a good steady job. So all of this, to me, is unbelievably miraculous." — Debra Messing ( Grace on Will & Grace ) to Biography magazine, May issue.