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Quote UnQuote

Compiled by Rex Wockner

Published Thursday, 12-Apr-2007 in issue 1007

“HRC [the Human Rights Campaign] should put much more pressure on Democratic candidates and avoid sucking up to Hillary Clinton at this early stage of the campaign. Their namby pamby press releases are worse than no response at all. They should take a lesson from [Executive Director] Matt Foreman over at the [National Gay and Lesbian] Task Force.”

Syndicated gay-press columnist Ann Rostow, March 22.

“He’s kind of good-looking. ... He’s kind of cute.”

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama in reference to candidate John Edwards during two appearances in Iowa in mid-March, according to TheHill.com.

“I have a personal bug up my ass that gay history is not taught in the schools. Abraham Lincoln and George Washington were gay. It may be up to activists to ram this truth down the throats of America because gay historians are too timid to. Timidity is so boring, don’t you agree?”

Writer and activist Larry Kramer in a speech marking the 20th anniversary of ACT UP, at the New York Lesbian and Gay Community Center, March 13.

“Gays serve openly in the military in 23 of 26 NATO countries (the United States, Turkey and Portugal are the exceptions). In Britain, senior officers predicted dire consequences when its gay ban was lifted in 2000. Several officers resigned in protest. So what happened? The experience has been so successful that the British military now recruits gays and offers partner benefits.”

USA Today editorial, March 14.

“I can’t just print some random thing that somebody has sent me, because I really hold myself up to a journalistic standard. I don’t want to print lies. I think that’s why I get a lot of respect and recognition in the mainstream media, because I’m rarely wrong. The best sources are my friends. I have a lot of friends.”

Blogger Perez Hilton as quoted in Outlook, the quarterly magazine of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, winter 2007 issue. Hilton spoke at a symposium on celebrity journalism presented by NLGJA’s Las Vegas chapter.

“It’s [the UK Civil Partnership Act] a thing that doesn’t just give me a lot of pride, but it has actually brought a lot of joy. ... The change in culture and the civilizing effect of it has gone far greater than the gay and lesbian community. ... By taking a stand on this issue and by removing a piece of prejudice and discrimination, and by enabling people to stand proud as what they are, it has had an impact that I think is far more profound on the way the country thinks about itself.”

British Prime Minister Tony Blair addressing the Stonewall Equality dinner, March 22. Stonewall is the UK’s leading gay lobby group.

“I think if the election were held today, Hillary, Obama and Edwards are all more electable than anybody on the Republican slate. That has more to do with the war and President George W. Bush. They overwhelm everything. They overwhelm that Hillary is a woman and that Obama is black and everything else. If the election were held today, I think any of the three could win.”

Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese to the Carolinas gay newspaper Q-Notes, March 10.