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Quote UnQuote

Compiled by Rex Wockner

Published Thursday, 12-Jun-2003 in issue 807

“I’m not a romantic leading man anymore so I don’t need to nurture that public image anymore. I can talk about it now because I’m not afraid anymore....”

— Actor Richard Chamberlain (Dr. Kildare), 69, on Dateline NBC, June 1.

“Do I believe [Florida Republican Congressman Mark] Foley is gay? … A friend of mine said he was at a social gathering with Foley a few months ago at which the congressman introduced his partner and said the two of them had been together for more than 19 years. Do I care that Foley is gay? No. But I do care if he is being a hypocrite. [He] can’t hold himself up as a defender of gay rights while at the same time denounce as ‘revolting and unforgivable’ questions about whether he is gay.”

— Columnist Jim DeFede in the Miami Herald, May 27.

“There are so many reality shows out there now, I wanted to do one for Bravo that nobody else would or could do. [’Boy Meets Boy’] is too risqué for a broadcast network or for many cable networks. We wanted to be a bit more daring and controversial. I thought this was a clever idea, a way to make a little noise for the channel.”

— Bravo executive Jeff Gaspin on the network’s new reality series in which a gay contestant, James, spends eight days dating 15 men, some of whom are secretly straight, before choosing one as a suitor. If his choice is gay, James wins $20,000. If his choice is straight, the suitor wins $20,000. Gaspin spoke to the Philadelphia Inquirer May 28.

“Only reality TV could create a closet for straight men.... This show blurs the boundaries of what is considered straight and gay in this country. It explores larger social issues than just trying to hook up.”

— Scott Seomin of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) on the Bravo network’s new reality series “Boy Meets Boy.” Seomin spoke to the Philadelphia Inquirer May 28.

“Of course he’ll date. [His personal life] will be prominent in the sense that, like any other human, he’ll want to get together with others. In fact, the first episode I go out with [“Dharma & Greg’s”] Thomas Gibson. That’s a good way to begin. But it’s not a show about being gay. It’s not Queer as Folk.’”

— Actor Nathan Lane talking about his new TV series, “Charlie Lawrence” (premiering June 15 on CBS), in which he plays a gay Congressmember, to Playbill, May 28.

“I don’t give a goddamn what that hypocrite Andrew Sullivan has to say.”

— New National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Matt Foreman in an interview with this column, May 26. Sullivan is a right-leaning gay journalist, commentator and blogger. He declined an invitation to respond to Foreman’s remark.

“There was a time when many of our nation’s leaders would have preferred that gays and lesbians stay in the closet and stay out of the way. Sadly, for some of our leaders, that time is still now. But I am running because I believe in my gut and in my heart and in my mind that that time must end.”

— Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry speaking in Chicago May 31.