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Quote UnQuote

Compiled by Rex Wockner

Published Thursday, 17-Jun-2004 in issue 860

“It’s so easy to feel superior to the Americans when they have a moron running the country. Even the French would be hard pressed to create a more revolting American stereotype than George Bush’s Texas cowboy doofus. His vile record as a presidential bigot and warlord is so perfectly reflected in his public image: his arrogant swagger, his ignorant words and the hokey drawl with which he mangles them.”

— David Walberg, publisher of the Toronto gay newspaper Xtra!, in a May 27 editorial

“Massachusetts’s wedding day proved to be the show dog that didn’t bark. Americans merely shrugged, confirming polls both before and after that fateful day: voters rate same-sex marriage dead last in importance among issues in an election year dominated by a runaway real war.”

— New York Times columnist Frank Rich, June 6

“You could rename marriage anything – civil unions, marshmallows, whatever you want – and the other side’s going to oppose it and they’re going to oppose it with every fiber in their body. [Settling for civil unions is like saying] let’s send Rosa Parks to the middle of the bus and let’s leave her there after she’s already made it to the front of the bus.”

— Human Rights Campaign President Cheryl Jacques to the St. Louis gay newspaper The Vital Voice, May 14

“While some gay residents [of New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood] may gasp at straight stroller gridlock, it should come as no surprise. Twenty years ago, when gay men and women began to leave the West Village for Chelsea, straight families moved in to take their place. Now, as Chelsea’s gay incumbents disperse to Hell’s Kitchen and Washington Heights as well as Fort Greene and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, they are again being replaced by straights. ... Perhaps [the] most striking [development] was the opening of a warehouse-size Buy Buy Baby on Seventh Avenue, near 25th Street, a year and a half ago.”

— The New York Times, May 28

“N-Nitrosamine is one of the most carcinogenic substances. There is a pressing need for manufacturers to tackle this problem.”

— The Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Institute in Stuttgart, Germany, announcing May 28 that it found a cancer-causing chemical in 29 of 32 brands of condoms it tested. The carcinogen is thought to be present in a substance used to improve condom elasticity.

“I used to be a diva, OK? But now that the term is so loosely used, I don’t want to be a diva. ... It used to mean ‘grand’. Getting a show done and doing it well without tracks or tapes or a lot of props on the stage and a lot of distractions. That’s my definition of a diva; you can just do a show with a mike. ... My thoughts on being a diva are not being a little, sexy, beautiful girl with no voice.”

— Patti LaBelle to the Palm Springs gay magazine The Bottom Line, May 14

“I didn’t wear anything underneath [the toga]. Just like the Greeks in ancient times, who wore no underwear. I guess you could say they were freeballing. But when you think about it, it’s a bit odd, because everything – your face, chest and arms – are protected with this heavy armor, yet your vitals are hanging in the wind. That’s a kill shot, to me. I don’t understand that. A lot more soldiers would have died if they had thought about that, I’m sure.”

— Brad Pitt on the making of his new film Troy, to the Rehoboth Beach, Del., gay magazine exp, May 21.