GLT » Quote UnQuote

commentary

Quote UnQuote

Compiled by Rex Wockner

Published Thursday, 16-Nov-2006 in issue 986

“The public eye has always been kind to me, and until recently I have been able to live a pretty normal life. Now it seems there is speculation and interest in my private life and relationships. So, rather than ignore those who choose to publish their opinions without actually talking to me, I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love.”

Actor Neil Patrick Harris from TV’s “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and “How I Met Your Mother,” to People magazine, Nov. 3.

“[I]f [the Rev. Ted] Haggard’s unblinking congregation could sit and listen to such a liturgical Liberace week after week and not realize they were in the presence of someone who makes Barry Manilow in a full-length mink look butch, they really need to recalibrate their ability to detect prescription-strength doses of flamboyance.”

Mrs. Betty Bowers, “America’s Best Christian,” Nov. 5. See Bettybowers.com.

“It made me angry that here’s someone preaching [against] gay marriage and going behind the scenes having gay sex. … Reading some of the things he was saying about gay marriage and homosexuality, I started getting pissed. I’ve been out my whole life. I have a lot of gay friends, and I’ve seen a lot of gay people suffer.”

Mike Jones, 49, of Denver, a prostitute and fitness consultant, outing the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Ted Haggard, 50, of Colorado Springs, who Jones says was his client for three years, paying about $200 per visit for monthly sex. Haggard stepped down from the NAE presidency and from leadership of his local church on Nov. 2. He eventually said he got a massage from Jones and bought crystal meth from him, but claimed he never took the meth or had sex with Jones. Later, on Nov. 5, Haggard admitted that he is “guilty of sexual immorality,” but did not provide details. Jones says Haggard used meth when the two had sex, but did not buy it from him.

“We believe in family values, we believe values are important, and we believe marriage is a fundamental institution of civilization. Yesterday, in New Jersey, we had another activist court issue a ruling that raises doubts about the institution of marriage. I believe that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, and I believe it’s a sacred institution that is critical to the health of our society and the well-being of families, and it must be defended.”

President George W. Bush, Oct. 25.

“All that’s been accomplished by this [Mark Foley] scandal is to call into question one of the central erotic archetypes of gay male tradition – the ephebic beauty of boys at their muscular peak between the ages of 16 and 18. It goes back through Western iconography from Michelangelo’s nudes to Hadrian’s Antinous and beyond that to Greek sculpture. It’s a formula at the heart of Plato’s dialogues, as in the Symposium, which shows Socrates in love with but also declining sex with the handsome young Alcibiades.”

Bisexual writer Camille Paglia to Salon.com, Oct. 26.

Correction: The quotes from Elton John’s partner, David Furnish, in a recent edition of this column should have been attributed to the Sept. 28 issue of the Vancouver gay newspaper Xtra! West rather than to the Toronto gay newspaper Xtra!. The sister papers are both published by Toronto-based Pink Triangle Press.

Assistance: Bill Kelley