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Quote UnQuote

Compiled by Rex Wockner

Published Thursday, 14-Feb-2008 in issue 1051

“[Coming out is] very powerful. It’s not just about saying you’re gay. It’s about an existential moment in time where you face up to all those forces that are pushing you in one direction, and you look them straight in the face and you say, ‘No, that is not who I am. I am this. And I own this.’ It’s so powerful that those of us who are straight have to figure out what we have to come out about, because everybody’s got something to come out about. And when we see you do that, it encourages us, it inspires us. I don’t think you know that. I don’t think you recognize that, the power of that act.”

Actress Judith Light, currently starring on ABC’s “Ugly Betty” as Claire Meade, to the Palm Springs GLBT magazine The BottomLine, Jan. 18.

“Most of my friends are gay. I love them. They’re fun. We go out all the time. Gay men have the best taste. The best makeup – and they’re hot.”

Paris Hilton when asked by the gay newspaper Dallas Voice on Jan. 25, “Do you identify with the gay community – as a member of it?”

“Well, I hope you said how open-minded I am.”

President George W. Bush to gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., after Bush’s Jan. 28 State of the Union address. Bush had walked by Frank before the address and told Frank to say hello to whomever Frank was talking to on his cell phone. After the address, Frank informed Bush that Frank had been talking to his boyfriend, and Bush responded with the comment, the Boston Globe reported.

“Among those people who use the politics of fear, there’s typically an element of American society that’s put forward as a wedge issue, and in this election it’s illegal immigrants. It doesn’t seem to be us [gays].”

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese to the Associated Press, Jan. 25.

“You would need a magnifying glass to see any real or substantive differences between the three candidates [on gay issues].”

Alan Van Capelle, executive director of New York’s Empire State Pride Agenda, discussing Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards with a New York Times reporter, Jan. 28. Edwards later dropped out of the race.

“Let me tell you what I have been telling voters across America. I am fully committed to the fair and equal treatment of LGBT Americans. For seven long years, the Bush Administration has tried to divide us – only seeing people who matter to them. It’s been a government of the few, by the few, and for the few. And no community has been more invisible to this administration than the LGBT community. I will change that.”

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Feb. 4 in “A Message to LGBT Americans: ‘I Want to be Your President.’”

“I’m supporting her [Hillary Clinton] because I know her and I like her and she’s smart and a tough girl. But I don’t have much respect for either party. I just think Republicans are worse.”

Cher to USA Today, Feb. 6.

“With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion. With Barack Obama, we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay.”

U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., endorsing Barack Obama for president of the United States, Jan. 28.