GLT » Quote UnQuote

commentary

Quote UnQuote

Compiled by Rex Wockner

Published Thursday, 13-Mar-2008 in issue 1055

“Marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples is another barrier that’s falling, and I couldn’t be happier about that. ... I have several friends that have outlasted both of my marriages, that are raising wonderful children together, that have been together in gay unions for over 25 years, so they’re doing a better job than I am. ... When my children look at a loving, committed relationship, some of their finest role models are the gay and lesbian couples that they have had in their lives.”

“Ugly Betty” actress Vanessa Williams accepting a Human Rights Campaign award at the group’s annual Manhattan dinner, Feb. 23.

“I have 24 [birds] now. ... Nothing else matters to me but my birds. They were born into a life that’s just not fair. I do the best I can. They’re not caged, they get the best food. I don’t know what I did in my life to deserve these beautiful creatures. They can live to be over 100. I say to my Gino, ‘You’re gonna miss me one day, Gino.’ And I have my big homosexual bird, Reggie. I love him so much. He’s gay, though. There are girls around but he just loves the boys. I’m at peace with myself when I’m around those birds.”

Former Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss during an interview about New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer with Newsweek stringer Steve Friess, March 11.

“The pilot had been picked up for Will & Grace, and now it was all about casting. And I was sitting in the Bel Air home of a very famous gay director. And when I told him about the script he said, ‘Just make sure you don’t make it too butt-fucky.’ And I said, ‘What does that mean?’ And he said, ‘You never want the American public to have to think about butt-fucking.’ And it could not have been better advice. ... I could have gone full-tilt in the first 13 episodes. But I chose to not do explicit stuff, and edgy, edgy gay stuff. Because I wanted people to stay with it, get comfortable with it.”

“Will & Grace” co-creator Max Mutchnick to AfterElton.com, March 5.

“Most heterosexuals do not understand that it’s illegal to get married in 49 states in the U.S. for gay couples; they don’t understand that even if you have a legal contract with your spouse, your legal next of kin can and will challenge it, if you die or get sick; most heterosexuals have no idea that America bars gay spouses from immigration, and bars all HIV-positive non-Americans from even entering the country. ... The main reason for this, I think, is not so much homophobia, as the fact that most heterosexuals simply cannot imagine falling in love with someone, and being told by their own government that they cannot marry him or her. The experience of gay couples is simply beyond most straight people’s experience. If it happened to any of them, there would be outrage.”

Gay writer Andrew Sullivan on his blog, Feb. 27.

“On Feb. 12, an openly gay 15-year-old boy named Larry, who was an eighth-grader in Oxnard, Calif., was murdered by a fellow eighth-grader named Brandon. Larry was killed because he was gay. Days before he was murdered, Larry asked his killer to be his valentine. ... [S]omewhere along the line the killer, Brandon, got the message that it’s so threatening and so awful and so horrific that Larry would want to be his valentine that killing Larry seemed to be the right thing to do. And when the message out there is so horrible that to be gay you can get killed for it, we need to change the message. ... Larry was not a second-class citizen, I am not a second-class citizen, it is OK if you’re gay.”

Ellen DeGeneres on her TV talk show, Feb. 29.