“I was never certain what to call my boyfriend of eight years – ick, ‘boyfriend.’ I’m 35, not 15. But ‘partner’ sounds clinical, ‘lover’ sounds too ‘70s and ‘longtime companion’ sounds pathetic, evoking two old queens in cardigans watching Bette Davis movies. Nothing else sounds right because we already have a terminology for our better halves – spouses, husbands, wives. But because Michael and I couldn’t marry, calling him my ‘spouse’ was a lie. So I always introduced him as my ‘partner’ and put my hand around his waist, to show we didn’t just run a pet store or a restaurant or a Hollywood studio together.”

“What does it mean [in the Mark Foley scandal] for Democrats to be agitating over Web communications, which in my view fall under the province of free speech? It’s a civil liberties issue. We can say that what Foley was doing was utterly inappropriate, professionally irresponsible, and in bad taste, but why were liberals fomenting a scandal day after day after day over words being used? And why didn’t Democrats notice that they were drifting into an area which has been the province of the right wing – that is, the attempt to gain authoritarian control over interpersonal communications on the Web? It’s very worrisome and yet more proof that the Democrats have lost their way.”

Assistance: Bill Kelley