“I now think it’s time for the politicians to catch up to the public. The notion that you lock people up for smoking marijuana is pretty silly. I’m going to call it the ‘Make Room for Serious Criminals’ bill.”

“There are probably tons of gays and lesbians in the United States who might like to emigrate – who might like to be ‘exported’ – to saner countries. To places like, oh, Canada, Spain, Holland, etc., basically anywhere in the EU with the possible exception of Poland. You know, places with decent economies, strong currencies, marriage equality, and far, far fewer right-wing religious douchebags running around ruining everything for everyone else. ... I’m confident that with your organization’s resources, and its proven ability to raise money, you could more than cover emigration expenses for hundreds if not thousands of gays and lesbians that might like to watch the coming financial collapse of the United States from Paris, London, Rome, or Madrid.”

“I don’t think my generation is better or had it better. The one thing you’ll never see again – and I’m not so sure it’s bad you missed it – was the sexual revolution. You can’t imagine what it was like to go home and have sex with someone different every day. ... People really did! In Provincetown there was a bar called Piggies, totally mixed, gay and straight, but it was outside of town and everyone had to walk home and every person would just have sex in the graveyard along the way. I mean, those days will never happen again. Going to places like Hellfire in New York City, you look back and it’s so amazing, and that certainly did lead to terrible things like AIDS – and AIDS ruined everything for the rest of our lives. It ruined people taking chances. That’s over. You missed that.”