Each December, the Blade revisits the year’s most notable quotes on gay and lesbian issues. The usual suspects are never afraid to go on the record about discrimination, coming out, gay celebrities and myriad other gay matters.

But in 2004, equal marriage rights for same-sex couples went unchallenged as the gay topic of choice for almost anyone with a microphone or forum — from politicians, columnists and sports figures to comedians and people on the street.

The issue remained hot all year, as elections loomed and voters as well as lawmakers considered whether same-sex unions should be legalized or banned. At times, it appeared we couldn’t talk about much else.

So here are a few choice words on marriage from the highest ranks of government to the hoi polloi, with a smattering of quotes about a few other topics that garnered considerably less attention in 2004.

JANUARY
“It is unbelievable to me that we would use our Constitution to deal with an issue like [marriage rights for gay couples]. I think it’s really an abuse of the Constitution.”
U.S. Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), ranking Democrat on the Constitution subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee (Madison Capital Times, Jan. 1)

Ed Gillespie

“If gay activists try to take the Massachusetts court ruling and nationalize the government sanction of gay marriage, I suspect it will be an issue in the presidential campaign.”
Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie (ABC’s “This Week,” Jan. 19)

“Rosie O’Donnell, Broadway producer, is organizing a gay cruise to the Bahamas. It’s just like a straight cruise, except the people behave better, look better and give bigger tips.”
Columnist Jim Mullen (Entertainment Weekly, Jan. 23)

Dennis Miller

“If two gay guys want to get married, I could care less. If some psycho from another country wants to blow up their wedding, I expect my government to kill him preemptively. I guess that makes me a right-wing fanatic, and I’m more than happy to bask in that assignation.”
Comic Dennis Miller (CNBC’s “Dennis Miller,” Jan. 26)

“We don’t accept counterfeit money as legal tender. Why would we accept phony marriage?”
Earle Sholley, a candidate for the Massachusetts state senate, at a rally against marriage for gay couples (Providence Journal, Jan. 26)

“Do I believe the Democrats coming out for civil unions and domestic partnerships is enough? No. We’re a civil rights movement and we’re not going to be grateful until we have total equality under the law. As long as the total contract is called marriage, we will settle for no less.”
Lesbian activist Robin Tyler, executive director of the Equality Campaign and DontAmend.com, an online effort to block a U.S. constitutional amendment defining marriage as between only a man and a woman (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jan. 26)

Bill Frist

“It’s true that respect for marriage has seen better days. That’s all the more reason not to abandon or radically redefine the God-ordained institution of marriage. I do want to be very clear: We reject hatred and intolerance. … But we will do whatever it takes to protect, preserve and strengthen the institution of marriage against activist judges. If that means we must amend the Constitution, we will do it.”
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) (Conservative Political Action Conference Reagan Banquet, Jan. 28)

FEBRUARY
“I wonder if [the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is] taking money from the Republican National Committee. The timing is devastating. It’s really going to hurt.”
An unnamed Democratic strategist, reacting with dismay to the political fallout to the court’s January ruling that only marriages, not civil unions, are acceptable under the state’s constitution (Newsweek, Feb. 6)

“You can tell that the campaign has shifted into high gear because whenever President Bush refers to John Kerry, he calls him ‘the senator from the gay wedding state.’”
Talk show host David Letterman (CBS “Late Show with David Letterman,” Feb. 12)

“Now a lot of people have accused me of being homophobic. I’m not. If homosexuals want to go and do their thing, that’s fine. But don’t sashay your way up to the altar and demand marriage.”
Maryland Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr. (D-Baltimore), on a bill he introduced to prohibit the state from recognizing same-sex marriages (Washington Blade, Feb. 13)

Gavin Newsom

“There’s also a constitution in the state of California that I swore to uphold just 39 days ago. The bottom line is I took an oath of office and read that constitution, and nowhere in there did it say that I should discriminate.”
New San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, explaining his decision to order the city clerk to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples (CNN’s “American Morning, Feb. 17).

“Activist judges have left the people with one recourse. If we’re to prevent the meaning of marriage from being changed forever, our nation must enact a constitutional amendment to protect marriage in America.”
President Bush at the White House, announcing his support for a constitutional ban on marriage for same-sex couples (Feb. 24)

“Cartoon character Cathy finally got engaged to her boyfriend in today’s Valentine edition of her strip. Meanwhile, Marcie and Peppermint Patty are moving to Massachusetts.”
Tina Fey, co-anchor of “Weekend Update” on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (Entertainment Weekly, Feb. 27)

MARCH
“If the KKK opposes gay marriage, I would ride with them.”
Rev. Gregory Daniels, an African-American minister who helped organize a meeting in Chicago of black church leaders to mobilize against marriage for same-sex couples (New York Times, March 1)

“I had always supported the right of two women or two men to marry, but I didn’t understand the importance of it until the age of 60, when I went through a year of illness with the friend married. It made me appreciate the need for society’s recognition of the relationship.”
Feminist Gloria Steinem (New York Times, Feb. 29)

“Using Bush’s famous line, a line in the sand has been crossed. There’s a certain time in your life when you realize there are issues that are bigger than politics.”
Mark Brostoff, a two-time gay GOP candidate for Bloomington, Ind., City Council on why the Bush endorsement of a federal marriage amendment led him to quit the Republican Party (Associated Press, March 1)

Rosie O’Donnel

“One thought ran through my mind on the plane out here: with liberty and justice for all.”
Comedian Rosie O’Donnell, who married her longtime partner Kelli Carpenter in San Francisco (AP, March 4)

“David and I are in favor of gay marriage but have no plans to get married.”
Singer Elton John, denying reports that he plans to wed his longtime partner David Furnish (AP, March 4)

“She’s a girl now. Let her have a go. She’s not gaining any advantage from what I understand. She doesn’t hit the ball 350 yards. Why not give her a chance?”
Pro golfer Laura Davies, talking about Mianne Bagger, who made history at the Women’s Australian Open as the first transsexual to play in a professional golf tournament (AP, March 6)

“I ain’t into faggots. I don’t like gay people around me because I’m not comfortable with what their thoughts are. I’m not prejudiced. I just don’t go with gay people and kick it. We don’t have that much in common.”
Rapper 50 Cent (Playboy, April issue)

“I think [civil unions] provide the kinds of protections and benefits that are appropriate and necessary.”
U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who opposes same-sex marriage but also opposes a federal marriage amendment (AP, March 14)

Antonin Scalia

“I cannot do the horrible, conservative things I would like to do to society.”
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, explaining how the Constitution places limits on all sides of the culture wars (AP, March 16)

“If the gay rights movement is about anything, it should be about letting people come out on their own timetable and on their own terms.”
Pro golfer Rosie Jones, 44, explaining that she came out as gay when she was ready. She did so in conjunction with her decision to accept sponsorship from Olivia Tours, a lesbian travel and cruise company (New York Times, March 21)

“Forget making gay weddings illegal, Mr. President. If you want to make marriage more stable, make divorce illegal. If people knew they couldn’t get out of it, they’d be more careful getting into it.”
Satirist Andy Rooney in his “60 Minutes” commentary (CBS, March 21)

“Gay and lesbian people have families, and their families should have legal protection, whether by marriage or civil unions. A constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages is a form of gay-bashing, and it would do nothing at all to protect traditional marriages.”
Civil rights activist Coretta Scott King, announcing her opposition to a federal marriage amendment (Atlantic Press, March 24)

John Kerry

“It’s the rights that are important, not … the name of the institution.”
Presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) on why he favors civil unions instead of marriage (MTV’s “Choose or Lose: 20 Million Questions for John Kerry,” March 26)

“It’s meeting the man of my dreams, and then meeting his beautiful husband.”
Singer Alanis Morissette, changing the lyrics to her song “Ironic” during a performance at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Media Awards (USA Today, March 29)

“My only regret in life is that none of my children are gay.”
Sharon Osbourne, wife of rocker Ozzy Osbourne and host of her own daytime talk show, at the GLAAD Media Awards (USA Today, March 29)

APRIL
“This fuckin’ government is stupid as shit. Instead of dealing with real issues like homelessness, unemployment and money being taken from schools, they waste time trying to stop gay marriage!”
Rapper-turned-actor Ice-T (Advocate, April 27)

“If you want to marry on ‘Joe Millionaire,’ go ahead. If you’re a celebrity and you want to marry your high school sweetheart for 55 hours, go right ahead. If you’re J.Lo and you want to marry 18 people for six days each, hey, go right ahead! But if you happen to be reasonably minded and have fallen in love and want to marry your soul mate and make a life of it — and you just so happen to be the same sex — then, no, how dare you!”
Singer Pink (Advocate, April 27)

Michael Vick

“Everybody who knows me knows how I get down. It’s not even an issue.”
Atlanta Falcons and NFL star Michael Vick, denying rumors he is gay (Atlanta’s V-103, April 27)

MAY
“Sexual humiliation is perhaps the worst form of torture for any Muslim. As queer Muslims, we must condemn in the most forceful terms the blatant acts of homophobia and sexual torture displayed by the U.S. military. These symbolic acts of abuse represent the worst form of torture.”
Faisal Alam, director of Al-Fatiha, a gay Muslim group, on the Iraqi prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad (Press release, May 10)

“This is the liberal credo: If it happens in Abu Ghraib prison, it’s a war crime. If it happens at a rest stop on I-495, it’s true love.”
Columnist Howie Carr, on legalized marriage for gay couples in Massachusetts (Boston Herald, May 16)

“We’re so used to blending [in] that it makes us really nervous to be here, but really proud to show you how much we love each other. … It’s really important for us to step out and do that.”
Tanya McCloskey, 52, after marrying Marcia Kadish, 56, at City Hall in Cambridge, Mass., just after midnight on May 17 (AP, May 17)

“You know what that means. Group sex. Just sex, sex, sex.”
Rev. Lou Sheldon, head of the Traditional Values Coalition, referring to an ad in the Washington Blade, in which a gay group “meets frequently to socialize” with “refreshments, music and videos” (Washington Post, May 20)

Ellen DeGeneres

“I’m a comedian. I want to make people laugh. … Somehow, I was viewed as political when I just want to be a comedian.”
Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, on the success of her daytime talk show, which won an Emmy in May; she does not discuss being gay on the program. (Associated Press, May 22)

JUNE
“Our murderer is dead. The man who murdered more gay people than anyone in the entire history of the world is dead. More people than Hitler even. … Gays were as hated under Reagan as Jews were under Hitler.”
Gay playwright and ACT UP founder Larry Kramer in a column blaming former President Ronald Reagan, who died June 5, for ignoring the AIDS epidemic during his administration (Advocate, July 26)

“President Reagan’s inspirational vision for America relied on optimism, hope and an enduring faith in individual freedom. This is a great loss for the nation. … [Reagan] will go down in history as one of our nation’s greatest presidents.”
Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director Patrick Guerriero (Press release, June 7)

“If I were up against this again, I would have done the same thing. I know that I can’t make a determination based on sex, race or whatever in my office. I can’t do that.”
Victoria Dunlap, clerk for Sandoval County, N.M., defending her decision in February to issue marriage licenses to 66 gay couples before being ordered by a judge to stop (AP, June 15)

“Like acts of terrorism, hate crimes have an impact far greater than their impact on the individual victim. They are crimes against entire communities, against the whole nation and against the fundamental ideals on which America was founded.”
U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on the passage of federal hate crimes legislation by the U.S. Senate (Washington Times, June 16)

“This debate is not about preserving the sanctity of marriage — it is about preserving a Republican White House and Senate.”
U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on whether to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban marriage for gay couples and possibly civil unions (New York Times, June 23)

Janet Jackson

“Who all’s a bottom here today?”
Singer Janet Jackson, on stage during a surprise appearance at a New York Gay Pride dance event (June 27)

“What’s next? Marrying an animal?”
Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz on whether gays should be allowed to legally marry (AP, June 27)

JULY
“I told him to go out and get votes, but this is ridiculous.”
Conservative political consultant Phil Kent, on his reaction to the decision by his client, heterosexual Fulton County Superior Court candidate Tom Ford, to strip off his shirt during the Atlanta Pride parade (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 2)

George W. Bush

“If courts create their own arbitrary definition of marriage as a mere legal contract, and cut marriage off from its cultural, religious and natural roots, then the meaning of marriage is lost, and the institution is weakened.”
President Bush (National radio address, July 10)

“I couldn’t join a party that, frankly, tolerates members who are bigots for one thing, homophobes, racists.”
Ron Reagan, Jr., on the Republican Party (Washington Post, July 10)

“John Kerry and John Edwards have gotten so touchy-feely, now George Bush wants to ban ‘gay campaigning.’”
“Late Late Show” host Craig Kilborn (AP, July 16)

“Don’t you love it when politicians talk about the sanctity of traditional marriage? You know what we should do, let their ex-wives talk, too!”
“Tonight Show” host Jay Leno (AP, July 16)

“We see a health care crisis that can be alleviated through more personal responsibility. That in part is why we’re working for marriage equality — so we can do what families do best — care for each other in sickness and in health.”
Human Rights Campaign Executive Director Cheryl Jacques, in prepared remarks given at the Democratic National Convention in Boston (July 28)

“For anybody who thought the culture wars were over, [the gay marriage debate] will re-ignite them and ensure that they will be here for years and years to come.”
Michael Cromartie, of the Washington-based Evangelical Studies Project, on marriage equality as “the new abortion” (Washington Post, July 26)

Barney Frank

“We even believe, and it’s true, that when two people are in love and they are willing to be morally and legally committed to each other and financially responsible to each other that if they are prepared to get married, it’s a good thing for the stability of society.”
Gay Congressman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), in his speech to the Democratic National Convention (July 29)

AUGUST
“I didn’t want to call ‘cut’ because I wanted to see where their kissing would lead. Here are these two straight guys going on and on.”
Director Bill Condon, on a seduction scene between actors Peter Sarsgaard and Liam Neeson in the biopic film “Kinsey.” (Details, August issue)

“While my lyrics are very personal, I do not write them with the intent of purposefully hurting or maligning others, and I offer my sincerest apologies to those who might have been offended, threatened or hurt by my songs.”
Jamaican rapper Beenie Man (a.k.a. Anthony Davis), responding in a statement to criticism over songs like “Damn,” which advocates “a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays,” and “Bad Man (Chi Chi Man),” which advocates killing gay DJs (AP, Aug. 2)

“If you have sex with a man, that’s your own business. We don’t fight against lifestyles. We just don’t want anyone to molest our kids.”
Beenie Man (Philadelphia Inquirer, Aug. 8)

“Massachusetts and Missouri are proving they are capable of taking care of [the marriage issue] by themselves. [That] I think bears out that we didn’t need a [federal] constitutional amendment in order to do what’s right.”
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, supporting a vote in Missouri to amend the state’s constitution to ban gay marriage (Los Angeles Times, Aug. 7)

John Edwards

“We’re both opposed to gay marriage and believe that states should be allowed to decide this question.”
Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards, also backing the Missouri vote (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Aug. 5)

“I haven’t had anything this gay in my house since Jim J. Bullock crashed my Christmas party.”
Talk show host Bill Maher, referring to the Time magazine cover featuring swimmer Michael Phelps in a Speedo (“Real Life with Bill Maher,” HBO, Aug. 9)

“I am a gay American.”
New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey, acknowledging an extramarital affair with a man during his resignation from office (Aug. 12)

“Finally, a Democrat can honestly say, ‘I did not sleep with that woman!’”
Talk show host Jay Leno, on New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey coming out as gay (NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” Aug. 15)

“She wanted me. We didn’t have sex, but I’m pretty sure we could have done it. Britney invited me to the opening of her restaurant, but her publicists said they had to keep us apart.”
Adult film star Jenna Jameson, claiming to shock jock Howard Stern that pop princess Britney Spears made sexual advances toward her (Arizona Daily Star, Aug. 20)

“Lynne and I have a gay daughter, so it’s an issue that our family is very familiar with. We have two daughters and we have enormous pride in both of them, … my general view is that freedom means freedom for everybody. People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to.”
Vice President Dick Cheney, publicly acknowledging his daughter Mary is a lesbian for the first time, when responding to a question at a town hall meeting in Davenport, Iowa, about his personal opinion on marriage for gay couples. Despite his apparent opposing view, Cheney supported the president in his push for a federal constitutional marriage amendment. (Aug. 24)

“If we embrace homosexuality as a proper basis for marriage, we are saying that it’s possible to have a marriage state that in principle excludes procreation and is based simply on the premise of selfish hedonism.”
GOP Senate candidate Alan Keyes, who when asked whether “selfish hedonist” applied to Mary Cheney, the vice president’s lesbian daughter, said “of course she is. … Dick Cheney may or may not like to hear the truth, but it can be spoken.” (Sirius OutQ radio, Aug. 30)

Arnold Schwarzenegger

“To those critics who are so pessimistic about our economy, I say: ‘Don’t be economic girlie men!’”
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, speaking to the Republican National Convention, the second time this year he reprised a famous “Saturday Night Live” parody of him in order to criticize opponents. (Aug. 31)

SEPTEMBER
“If there was [a sex scene], you better believe it would be the best sex scene you ever saw in your life. They could have never done another man-to-man sex scene after that. It would have been the quintessential fuckfest of all time.”
Actor Jared Leto, who plays the lover of Colin Farrell’s Alexander the Great in the film “Alexander” (Out magazine, September issue)

“[My opponent] is the new darling of the homosexual extremists.”
A last minute ad by Mel Martinez, who won the GOP primary for U.S. Senate in Florida. Martinez, whose chief fund-raiser Kirk Fordham is gay, blasted his opponent in the ad for supporting hate crime legislation (Tallahassee Democrat, Sept. 2)

“If there was any doubt about whether the Log Cabin Republicans … belong in the GOP’s ‘Big tent,’ it was resolved this week. They don’t.”
Bob Knight of the conservative Culture & Family Institute, responding to a Log Cabin TV ad aired during the GOP convention (WorldNetDaily, Sept. 4)

“Want Gay Marriage? Vote Democrat this November”
A billboard truck outside a Minnesota rally with Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards; the billboard featured 8-foot images of two men kissing; the truck driver was arrested after refusing to remove the truck and pinned a police officer’s hand in the window (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune, Sept. 8)

Jimmy Swaggart

“I’ve never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry. And I’m gonna be blunt and plain; if one ever looks at me like that, I’m going to kill him and tell God he died.”
Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart on his syndicated sermon broadcast (“Jimmy Swaggart Ministries,” Sept. 12)

“That rumor doesn’t bother me. It’s almost flattering. It makes me feel that we are reaching all kinds of people and touching them.”
Olympic team silver medalist Morgan Hamm (far right), on rumors that he and/or his gold-medal winning identical twin Paul are gay; both are dating women, but they cite a strong relationship with a gay uncle and lesbian aunt.

“And thanks to my wonderful husband Mark. Someday soon we can get a legal marriage license, and you can make an honest homosexual out of me.”
Playwright Tony Kushner, accepting an Emmy for best writing in a miniseries, movie or dramatic special for “Angels in America” (ABC, Sept. 19)

“I can’t say to [gay couples], ‘Thanks a lot. But when it comes to you, I am drawing a line.’”
NAACP Chair Julian Bond on his support for full marriage equality for gay couples (Detroit News, Sept. 20)

“My private life is private. But at the same time, I have nothing to hide. So what I will say is that I am very happy.”
Actress Cynthia Nixon of HBO’s “Sex & the City,” after winning an Emmy for her role, confirming press accounts that she is in a relationship with a woman (New York Daily News, Sept. 24)

OCTOBER
“I think the vice president and his wife love their daughter. I think they love her very much. And you can’t have anything but respect for the fact that they’re willing to talk about the fact that they have a gay daughter, the fact that they embrace her.”
Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), in response to a question on his views on gay marriage during a televised vice presidential debate (Oct. 5)

Dick Cheney

“Let me simply thank the senator for the kind words he said about my family and our daughter. I appreciate that very much.”
Vice President Dick Cheney, taking up only a few seconds of his rebuttal time on the same question (Oct. 5); though he appeared to personally support gay marriage in his opening answer, Cheney reiterated his official support of the president backing the Federal Marriage Amendment (Oct. 5)

“Kelli couldn’t be here tonight. She’s at home returning all of our wedding gifts because the state of California annulled our marriage.”
Rosie O’Donnell, accepting the Human Rights Family Civil Rights Equality Award; she and her partner, Kelli, were among dozens of couples who married in San Francisco in February, only to have their licenses later revoked by the California Supreme Court (HRC National Dinner, Oct. 8)

“Oh, that Kerry. He only served in a war. You actually started one.”
Lesbian comic Lily Tomlin, at a Democratic fund-raiser in character as Ernestine the telephone operator, handling a mock call from President Bush (San Francisco Examiner, Oct. 8)

“The third and final presidential debate was last night. After the debate, Dick Cheney’s wife, Lynne, was upset that John Kerry brought up their lesbian daughter. She said, ‘The only thing that upsets me more is that I brought up a lesbian daughter.’”
Talk-show host Conan O’Brien, on Lynn Cheney calling Kerry a “bad man” for mentioning the Cheneys’ daughter during a discussion of gay rights (NBC’s “Late Night,” Oct. 14)

Conan O’Brien

“John Kerry is facing a storm of criticism because, during a presidential debate, he referred to Dick Cheney’s lesbian daughter. Today, because of all the controversy, Kerry cancelled a speech entitled, ‘Boy, Can Those Bush Twins Drink!’”
Talk show host Conan O’Brien, (NBC’s “Late Night,” Oct. 21)

“I don’t think we should deny people rights to a civil union, a legal arrangement, if that’s what a state chooses to do so.”
President Bush, on civil unions, stating his opposition to the Republican Party platform which opposes civil unions as well as marriage for gay couples (“Good Morning America,” Oct. 26)

“[To] equate civil rights with gay rights is to compare my skin with their sin.”
Rev. Dwight McKissic of Arlington, Texas, on comparisons between black and gay civil rights (Baptist Press, Oct. 22)

“There will be an opportunity to have a woman president, a black president, a Latino president, a gay president. Anything’s possible if a community flexes its power. That won’t happen overnight, though. We have to stay focused. We have to grow our power within politics to be able to break down those barriers.”
Rapper Sean “P Diddy” Combs, who led a “Vote Or Die” tour to encourage urban youth to register and vote (AP, Oct. 29)

NOVEMBER

Bill Clinton

“I’m going to talk about something no other Democrat can talk about. But heck, I’m not running for anything. Let’s be frank about it. Out in the country, they are wearing us out with guns and gay marriage.”
Former President Bill Clinton, speaking at a pre-election rally in Little Rock (Washington Post, Nov. 1)

“If we want to have a hopeful and decent society, we ought to aim for the ideal. And the ideal is that marriage ought to be and should be a union of a man and a woman. And we cannot allow activist judges to overturn that.”
Karl Rove, the man President Bush described as “the architect” of his re-election bid, on why the president will “absolutely” push for the Federal Marriage Amendment in his second term (“Fox News Sunday,” Nov. 7)

“As a black man married to a white woman, I couldn’t help wondering what might have happened if Americans had voted on interracial marriage back in 1968, when the Supreme Court ruled that laws against such unions were unconstitutional. I couldn’t imagine someone telling me my marriage was ‘too much, too fast, too soon,’ even then.”
Columnist Eric Deggans, commenting about Nov. 2 votes banning marriage for same-sex couples in 11 states; Deggans noted that a 1968 Gallup poll showed 72 percent of Americans opposed interracial marriage (St. Petersburg Times, Nov. 13)

“It’s getting harder and harder to live in a country where you’re considered by the majority of the people to be a scourge rather than an asset. We are tearing down Western civilization, according to these states.”
Seattle resident Eric Thom, who married his partner in Canada and plans to move there because of the election results (Los Angeles Times, Nov. 6)

Larry Kramer

“As of Nov. 2, gay rights are officially dead. It’s guillotine time; 23 percent of gays voted against us in the election; 60 million people think we are immoral. It’s hard to stand up to so much hate.”
Gay and AIDS activist and playwright Larry Kramer, on the percentage of gays who voted for the president, according to exit polls (New York Blade, Nov. 12)

“Every man should be fucked at some point in his life. You shouldn’t force yourself to do it. But it’s really not that different than having a massage. … It doesn’t feel that much different. It’s skin.”
Fashion designer Tom Ford, formerly with Gucci, apparently attempting to seduce his male interviewer (GQ magazine, November issue)

“When I write about my relationship, it’s not as a gay relationship. It’s as two people trying to make a life together.”
Humorist David Sedaris (Georgetown University, Nov. 18)

DECEMBER
“I did not go into this trial expecting to win. I went into it knowing it would be a painful moment in the life of the United Methodist Church.”
Rev. Elizabeth Stroud, who was defrocked for violating the church’s ban on non-celibate gay clergy, due to her long-term partnership with a woman (AP, Dec. 3)

“Don’t wanna be an American idiot. Don’t want a nation under the new mania. And can you hear the sound of hysteria? The subliminal mind fuck America. … Well maybe I’m the faggot, America. I’m not a part of a redneck agenda. Now everybody do the propaganda.”
Lyrics of “American Idiot,” the title single from the CD released in December by the rock band Green Day

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