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Quote UnQuote

Compiled by Rex Wockner

Published Thursday, 10-Feb-2005 in issue 894

“Senators have made it clear that so long as DOMA [the federal Defense of Marriage Act] is deemed constitutional, nothing will happen [on the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage]. I’d take their admonition seriously. ... Until that changes, nothing will happen in the Senate.”

— President George W. Bush telling the Washington Post Jan. 16 that “he will not press senators to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.”

“I think it would be foolhardy to back off when we’ve got a good head of steam coming out of the election.”

— U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., reintroducing a bill to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, Jan. 24.

“Since homosexuality, adultery, prostitution and pornography undermine the foundations of the family, the basis of society, then the state must use its coercive power to proscribe or curtail them in the interests of the common good.”

— Calgary, Alberta, Roman Catholic Bishop Frederick Henry denouncing the Canadian government’s plans to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide, in a letter read in churches the weekend of Jan. 20. Courts already have legalized full same-sex marriage in eight of Canada’s 13 provinces and territories.

“[N]ow is the time when vigilance is needed more than ever, when an informed populace and an outraged resistance is mandatory lest the current regime simply steam roll over the nation for the next 1,460 days with a blindly aggressive agenda, one that aims to decimate Social Security and gut the economy and flood the courts with rabidly homophobic and anti-choice Bible-thumping judges who will almost guarantee we start treating gays as abominations and women as chattel and progressives as flammable godless heathens all over again.”

— SFGate.com columnist Mark Morford, Jan. 21.

“What we’re doing today is as old as the scripture: ‘Love thy neighbor.’ It’s what Jesus said when he gave his sermon on the mount: ‘Do unto others what you would have others do unto you.’”

— Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich as he signed a new state law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, Jan. 21.

“The reason they [the Bush campaign] picked those issues [guns, God and gays] is they got nothing to say about jobs, healthcare and education.”

— Former presidential candidate Howard Dean addressing supporters in New York City, Jan. 30. Dean is running for national chair of the Democratic Party.

“I didn’t feel the need to tell people, except for a very, very few, as it was not in any way affecting my work. ... [But] what Nelson Mandela said very much struck a chord with me. He spoke about how nobody should be ashamed of HIV and said that it should be regarded just like any other illness. He was brave and right.”

— Gay British Member of Parliament Chris Smith acknowledging Jan. 29 that he has been HIV positive for at least 17 years. On Jan. 6, Mandela told reporters that his oldest son had died of AIDS that morning.