“Top Ten Shows on the new gay cable network:
10. ‘Everybody Love Raymond — Especially Steve’
9. ‘CSI: San Francisco’
8. ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio Apartment in the West Village’
7. ‘Law & Order: Special Antiquing Unit’
6. ‘King of Queens’
5. ‘Desperate Houseboys’
4. ‘Stone Phillips — Unleashed’
3. ‘Malcolm in the Middle’
2. ‘My Wife & Kids — Have No Idea’
1. ‘Press the Meat’
David Letterman’s Top 10 suggestions for the Q Television Network, one of several gay cable channels launched in 2005 (CBS’ “Late Night,” Jan. 10)

“There’s a certain reality to dealing with the Congress. Yes, I’ll push for it. Yes, I’m still for it. I just want people to understand that there’s a mentality on the Hill that says the way things are fine now — in other words, states are protected from the decisions of one state to the next because of the Defense of Marriage Act.”
President Bush, reacting to conservative critics who wanted him to push harder for a constitutional ban on gay marriage during his second term (NBC, Jan. 17)

“Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode. Congress’ and the [Education] Department’s purpose in funding this programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television.”
U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, in a letter to PBS President and CEO Pat Mitchell, expressing her displeasure that the children’s show ‘Postcards from Buster’ planned to show two lesbian parents in an episode that was eventually pre-empted in most parts of the country (AP, Jan. 26)

“I feel sick about it. I can’t believe PBS would back down to this. I understand they get public funding, but they should be the one station we feel confident in, in knowing that what we see there represents our whole country.”
Karen Pike of Hinesburg, Vt., on PBS’s decision not to broadcast the ‘Postcards from Buster’ episode during which she and her lesbian partner, Gillian Pieper, were featured with their three children. (AP, Jan. 26)

“I support gay marriage. I believe they have a right to be as miserable as the rest of us.”
Musician-turned-mystery author-turned-2006 Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman, after a reporter asked his position on same-sex marriage (AP, Feb. 3)

“Now I know what President Bush meant when he said he had a mandate.”
Talk show how Bill Maher, on the revelations about conservative journalist Jeff Gannon (a.k.a. Jeff Guckert) who was frequently called on during White House press briefing before being outed as the operator of an online gay military escort service (HBO’s “Real Time,” Feb. 19)

“I absolutely love women and find them incredibly sexy. I have loved women in the past and slept with them. I think if you love and want to pleasure a woman, particularly if you are a woman yourself, then certainly you know how to do things a certain way.”
Actress Angelina Jolie, in an interview with a British magazine (OK! Magazine, March 15)

“Years from now, we’ll look back as gay men and be pretty despondent that we popularized and glamorized this drug. I’m not anti-partying or anti-sex. But how can we fight for our rights as a sexual minority if we don’t establish what’s right and wrong in our community, and look out for each other?”
Dan Carlson, an ex-meth addict who co-founded the HIV Forum to combat growing crystal meth use among gay men (AP, March 28)

“Please do not accept ‘separate but equal’ as a payoff. Don’t let anyone brand you a second class citizen.”
Actor and activist Harvey Fierstein, who lives in Connecticut, in a letter before the state legislature passed a law creating civil unions in that state (AP, March 24)

“[Dennis Rader] still hasn’t done anything really terrible, like support gay marriage.”
Comedy writer Jake Novak, poking fun at news reports that Rader had not be kicked out of his Kansas church congregation, despite Rader’s confession that he was the BTK (Bind-Torture-Kill) serial killer (AP, April 1)

“I know a ton of gay men that would be more than willing to stay in the Army if they could just be open. But if we have to stay here and hide our lives all the time, it’s just not worth it.”
Sgt. Robert Stout, an Ohio native who received a Purple Heart after being wounded in Iraq. Stout wanted to return to duty as an openly gay man (AP, April 15)

“I felt kicked in the stomach. And then I probably felt kicked out the door. Because certainly the room for people like me to present themselves as Catholic theologians … will shrink even further.”
Emory religion professor Mark Jordan, a gay Catholic, reacting to the election of Pope Benedict XVI (Southern Voice, April 22)

“I told them I was going to give them something to be afraid of Christians about.”
Rev. Ken Hutcherson, a Washington pastor who took credit for Microsoft’s decision to withdraw its support for a gay-inclusive non-discrimination bill in the state legislature (New York Times, April 22)

“After looking at the question from all sides, I’ve concluded that diversity in the workplace is such an important issue for our business that it should be included in our legislative agenda. It’s appropriate for the company to support legislation that will promote and protect diversity in the workplace.”
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, in a May 6 e-mail to employees informing them that the company was reinstating its support for the Washington anti-discrimination bill in 2006

“I think gay men write women differently and appreciate them, and maybe it took them getting in a creative position of power for us to be seen that way.”
‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘TransAmerica’ star Felicity Huffman, on the success of shows like ‘Housewives’ and ‘Sex & the City,’ which were both created by gay men (Salon, April 25)

“I’m a blue-state guy in a red-state sport. But that won’t stop me from being proud of who I am.”
Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Joe Valentine, who acknowledged he was raised by two lesbian mothers (Newsday, April 10)

“We don’t really want to participate in something that’s illegal.”
Dr. Neil Clark Warren, founder of eHarmony, on why his online dating site does not offer matchmaking for gay singles, arguing the site is marriage-oriented and gay couples can’t marry in most states (USA Today, May 19)

“We are not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven, ladies and gentlemen, by two unstoppable forces — freedom and equality.”
Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, in remarks to parliament just before it approved same-sex marriages (AP, June 30)

“The reason you’re going to make a good fag is because most of these guys are dogs anyway. All of you guys are fags, and you have no power except your dicks … and your loose assholes.”
Author Terry McMillan, in a note to her husband Jonathan Plummer, who inspired her novel “How Stella Got Her Groove Back.” The couple divorced after Plummer said he realized he was gay (Dish, July 1)

“We felt very good about Zach coming here because … to let him see for himself the destructive lifestyle, what he has to face in the future, and to give him some options that society doesn’t give him today. Knowing that your son … statistics say that by the age of 30, he could either have AIDS or be dead.”
Joe Stark, father of teen internet blogger Zach, whose parents enrolled him in an ex-gay camp (Christian Broadcasting Network, July 13)

“Everyone in hip hop discriminates against gay people. And I wanna just, to come on TV and tell my rappers, just tell my friends, ‘Yo, stop it.’
Rapper Kanye West, who said learning he had a gay cousin caused him to examine his own homophobia (MTV’s “All Eyes on Kanye West, August)

“I was really lucky that my character was uncomfortable with it, and knew it, too. So I could use my own level of discomfort, because it was new and strange for me, and that worked for me.”
Actor Heath Ledger, on his same-sex love scene with Jake Gyllenhaal in “Brokeback Mountain” (AP, Sept. 2)

“We used the bar as a shelter, and the quality of the gay population, local and tourist, was fantastic. We all pulled together and fed and took care of each other.”
C.W. Stambaugh, owner of Starlight by the Park in the French Quarter in New Orleans, explaining how two dozen patrons converted the popular gay bar into a makeshift shelter when Hurricane Katrina hit (Southern Voice, Sept. 2)

“I asked the volunteer posted at the shower if I could use it. She said ‘sure.’ [After I was arrested] they didn’t tell me anything in jail except that the court system was backed up for six months to a year and I should expect to be there that long.”
Sharli’e Vicks, a preoperative transsexual who was arrested for using a female shower at a shelter for Katrina evacuees (Southern Voice, Sept. 16)

“I am proud California is a leader in recognizing and respecting domestic partnerships and the equal rights of domestic partners. I believe that lesbian and gay couples are entitled to full protection under the law and should not be discriminated against based upon their relationships.”
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), in his message vetoing a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry (Sept. 29)

“I’m just at a point in my life where I’m tired of having to pretend to be somebody I’m not. I’m tired of having to hide my feelings about the person I care about. About the person I love.”
Houston Comets forward Sheryl Swoopes, a MVP of the WNBA, announcing she is gay (ESPN The Magazine, November issue)

“That’s why they have menus in restaurants. I like steak, some people like spaghetti. That’s OK.”
Donald Trump, on learning one of the contestants on his reality show is a gay man (NBC’s “The Apprentice,” Nov. 3)

“I have a lot of gay friends, and I’ve seen them screwed up from unloving family situations, which are just completely anti-Christian. If we know anything about God, it’s that God is love. That’s part of the song.”
U2 lead singer Bono, on how social conservatives miss the point to the band’s song “One” (Rolling Stone, Nov. 3)

“Good, I made that record for you fuckers!”
Singer Madonna, after asking the crowd in a London gay nightclub if they like her latest record “Confessions on a Dance Floor” (Madonnalicious.com, Nov. 20)

“We will get married the day gays and lesbians can get married, when that right is given to them … The day that law gets passed, we’ll get married.”
Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron, on the decision she reached about she and boyfriend Stuart Townsend will wed (“Extra,” Nov. 22)

© Copyright 2006 Window Media LLC | User Agreement and Privacy Policy

Southern Voice | Express Gay News | David Atlanta | The 411 Mag | Genre Magazine