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Quote UnQuote

Compiled by Rex Wockner

Published Thursday, 14-Aug-2003 in issue 816

“Usually, extreme homophobia is an indication of a deep fear of one’s own homosexual feelings. In any case, Americans tend to be much more threatened by the presence of gays than do people in other industrialized nations.”

— Syndicated columnist Dr. Joyce Brothers, July 26.

“The [federal] Employment Non-Discrimination Act ... is important legislation and would have great benefits for GLBT people. But, as an issue, it’s a dog. It has consistently failed to ignite passions within the GLBT community. And with same-sex marriage exploding as an issue all around us, it seems like a quaint afterthought.”

— Andrew Rapp, editor of the Boston gay newspaper Bay Windows, in a July 10 editorial.

“A week after watching the first episode of ‘Queer Eye,’ I’ve found myself noticing my scuffed shoes and wondering if wire hangers are damaging my shirts. But I’m proud to say I still think a skin peel sounds like a human-rights violation.”

— Brian Shott writing about Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” in the San Francisco Chronicle, July 24.

“Madison Avenue should love this show. It’s about how you can make over yourself, but you have to go shopping first. I think it’s disturbing and almost spooky. You’ve got these straight guys living on a hygiene budget of $100 a year. They seem normal and happy. Then they are converted to someone who will have to up their budget to thousands of dollars a year to maintain their fabulous look.”

— Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, in reference to Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” to the Boston Globe, July 24.

“Titled ‘Arc de Triomphe,’ it depicts a man bent over backwards with water spouting from his erect penis into his mouth.”

— The Agence France-Press wire service July 25 describing a new statue in Salzburg, Austria, that has upset the mayor. The flesh-colored statue was installed in front of the Rupertinum Modern Art Gallery by a quartet of Austrian artists called Gelatin. They said they wanted to depict man as “a self-contained entity.”

“Uniform crowds, a considerable amount of middle-class rudeness, processions of politicians seeking office and rolling ads that didn’t even pretend to float.”

— Columnist Karen Rogers writing in Ottawa, Canada’s Capital Xtra! July 17 after attending Toronto’s gay-pride parade.

“Ultimately, the law, not bigoted theology or narrow public opinion, will determine whether the courts recognize the right of same-sex couples to marry. A majority of voters had doubts about interracial marriage on June 12, 1967, when the U.S. Supreme Court declared the miscegenation laws in Virginia and 15 other states unconstitutional. The Republic, and the American family, survived.”

— Columnist Eileen McNamara, Boston Globe, July 30.