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Quote UnQuote

Compiled by Rex Wockner

Published Thursday, 20-Apr-2006 in issue 956

“I think probably Barbra and maybe even Cher and myself in school felt like outcasts because we didn’t have standard looks. Maybe what a gay icon is, is a person who is rooted for – in other words, cheered on – by people who feel different.”

Singer/actress Liza Minnelli to Newsweek, April 3.

“In my own life, I have felt the discrimination that used to separate Japanese-Americans from the rest of the country melt away. I believe that by sharing our stories, GLBT Americans can break down the walls that separate us and help build a more understanding and truly diverse nation for us all.”

George Takei, Mr. Sulu on “Star Trek,” who is partnering with the Human Rights Campaign for a speaking tour and as a spokesperson for HRC’s Coming Out Project, as quoted in a March 28 HRC press release.

“The [house] trailer at the end [of Brokeback Mountain] – there’s not a tassel, there’s not a pillow, there’s not a matching fabric. This is not a gay man’s trailer!”

Comedian Joan Rivers to the gay newspaper Sydney Star Observer, March 16.

“Question comes up: Is there a constitutional right to homosexual conduct? Not a hard question for me. It’s absolutely clear that nobody ever thought when the Bill of Rights was adopted that it gave a right to homosexual conduct. Homosexual conduct was criminal for 200 years in every state. Easy question.”

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia addressing students at Switzerland’s University of Freiburg on March 8, according to the Human Rights Campaign, which said CNN broadcast the remark.

“I believe in karma. You can’t steal an election and have it not come back to haunt you.”

Lesbian comedian Kate Clinton on George W. Bush to the St. Petersburg, Fla., gay magazine Gazette, March issue.

“The pressure and the stigma, and sometimes the all-too-casual bigotry in this town made it painfully clear when I first ran for office that I could either serve this community or I could be a gay man. But I could not be both. … The prospect of more kids and young people making the same choice because they didn’t have any more accessible gay and lesbian role models in politics made it important for me to come out.”

West Sacramento, Calif., Mayor Christopher Cabaldon coming out during his State of the City address, March 29.

“Gay and lesbian couples should be able to marry and have access to the same rights, privileges and benefits that straight couples currently enjoy. Denying people this basic American right is the kind of discrimination that has no place in our laws. … The time has come to end this discrimination and the politics of divisiveness that has become part of this issue.”

U.S. Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., a likely Democratic presidential candidate, in an April 4 statement.