“I think a good deal of it [my huge gay following] has to do with the heartache and pain and misery that this community had to suffer so long. I think things have changed a great deal since the 26 years that I have been with this community, but I think that prior to that, the reason they fell in love with me was because I was a misfit, meaning that I was a big figure, a big woman, maybe not as attractive, and you have this big, painful voice and it’s a thing like being connected with Judy Garland or other people who had that sadness that they could kind of latch on to. So I think that’s how it started with ‘And I’m Telling You’ being such a song of rejection and need and pleading to be recognized. ... I’m glad though that when I lost the weight and I did change and my life got happier ... they followed, you know, because the gay community’s life has also gotten better as well, and I think we’ve all grown together and evolved and are finally coming to fulfill our own destiny.”

“Everyone gay knows a gay Scrooge. Mean queens haunt our periphery, constantly threatening to infect us with the pain of their past. Will we let them? Have they already? We must watch for the signs.”

“Growing up Mormon in Utah, it was a close contest between who was actually devil spawn – feminists or lesbians (or if you’re Pat Robertson, there is no distinction). In college, when I came to the realization that I could no longer be an active Mormon, the reason was not that I liked girls, it was because I could no longer be a part of an institution that I believed devalued women and elevated patriarchy. Now, I know that feminism as a word and as a movement is so 1970s, but the lessons of feminism and the ongoing struggle to comprehend and dismantle sexism is so here and now. ... The recent community fight over the introduction of an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) that removed protections based on gender identity is perhaps the definitive recent example of how gender and sexism still divide even we who should be allies.”