Advertisement

S/he said: Lisa Turner, Ted Haggard, Walt Freese

compiled by Howard Israel

"You speak about your Bible. Well, the Bible says if you work on the Sabbath, you're to be stoned in public. I don't see a public stoning place. We don't stone anybody in public. It says you're allowed to have slaves as long as they're not of our nation. We don't do that any more. We are a country where all men are created equal. Not according to somebody's Bible, somebody else's religious text. I don't care if it's the Torah, the Koran, the Bible; teachings from Buddha, Hindu, Native American – I don't care, we're all equal, we're to be treated the same. This is a civil rights issue. I will not stand silent while people preach hate. And when it comes to marriage, it's not the gays and lesbians and transgendered people who are at fault for your failure to stay faithful to your partner. It's your fault. Go look in the mirror; over 50 percent of heterosexual marriages end in divorce."

– Lisa Turner, of El Paso, TX, a frequent El Paso City Council critic, responding to a barrage of criticism leveled against members of city council for its decision to provide domestic partner benefits, http://www.newspapertree.com, El Paso's Online Newspaper, Aug. 4.

"I used to say that I am a heterosexual with issues. Now I say I'm a heterosexual with very few issues. My incongruity was due to childhood trauma. All of us struggle with some dimension of sin. I just wish I would have been more aggressive in dealing with this. It was just very confusing and very hurtful."

– Ted Haggard, outspoken anti-gay former evangelical minister, in a public forum in a Dallas church, with his wife, Gayle, "apologizing" for his scandals, and rejecting the idea that he might be gay, http://www.dallasnews.com, Sept. 7. No mention was made of any details about Haggard's ongoing sexual relationship with a male prostitute, illegal drug use, or accusations of inappropriate sexual relations with a youth from his church.

"Mayors mostly have to deal with problems. Sometimes we even get blamed for the weather, so it gives me a lot of satisfaction to be known for marrying people."

– Francisco Maroto, openly gay mayor of Campillo de Ranas, a tiny Spanish town, about his town's unofficial status as the gay wedding capital of Spain, New York Times, Sept. 6. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Spain since 2005.

"I don't think turning figure skating into some kind of X-Games event will promote figure skating to the male population of especially North America, but also the world. This kind of talk has been going around for some time, about making the men more masculine and the women more feminine. But it's not figure skating if you don't have the freedom to express yourself and make something beautiful. To butch up figure skating is a ridiculous idea, because there's no putting me in some two-piece pants suit to skate in. I love my glitter, I love my prettiness, I love getting my hair done before the events, I love putting on makeup because I'm going to be on TV. In my opinion, anyone who wants to change the actual people who are doing the figure skating can suck it."

– Johnny Weir, three-time U.S. Champion and international figure skating star, in his first interview with a gay publication, about butching up the sport of figure skating, http://www.OutSports.com, Sept. 2.

"It is my belief that bi people need their own flags and symbols to rally around. GLBT people need to work together, but also need to uphold their own unique component of the GLBT equation. I selected the most attractive combination of pink, purple and blue or magenta, lavender and royal. The top 40 percent of the flag is pink, the lower 40 percent is blue, and purple, the resultant color when you overlap pink and blue, is the middle 20 percent. Pink represents sexual attraction to the same sex only, blue represents sexual attraction to the opposite sex only and the resultant overlap color purple represents sexual attraction to both sexes. The key to understanding the symbolism in the Bi Pride Flag is to know that the purple pixels of color blend unnoticeably into both the pink and blue, just as in the 'real world' where most bi people blend unnoticeably into both the gay/lesbian and straight communities."

– Michael Page, Bi Pride flag designer, unveiled on Dec., 1998, with the intent maximizing bisexual pride and visibility, in an article titled "History of the Bi Pride Flag," http://www.BiFlag.com, Sept. 1.

"At the core of Ben & Jerry's values, we believe that social justice can and should be something that every human being is entitled to. From the very beginning of our 30 year history, we have supported equal rights for all people. The legalization of marriage for gay and lesbian couples in Vermont is certainly a step in the right direction and something worth celebrating with peace, love and plenty of ice cream."

– Walt Freese, Chief Executive Officer of Ben & Jerry's, in a press release, honoring the first day of same-sex marriages in Vermont by temporarily renaming their popular "Chubby Hubby" ice cream to "Hubby Hubby" and serving "Hubby Hubby" sundaes in Vermont Scoop Shops throughout the month of September, http://www.BusinessWire.com, Sept. 1.

"I do not believe the battle for LGBT rights will ever be won until we can diminish the homophobia in black communities and until more in the black LGBT community join the battle openly. (It is awfully easy for a straight man to say 'come out' – I can only imagine the scorn and derision that would follow some who did so.) I've often wondered what would be the result of black LGBT church goers standing up in the churches they attend and saying 'I'm gay – you know me – I'm like you. I am what God made me. Why do you treat me so badly?' (It is equally easy for a non-church goer like me to say that.) If not a church goer, I am an optimist – and I believe the day when equality for all reigns will soon come."

– Julian Bond, social and civil rights activist, in an e-mail message to blogger Pam Spaulding about the NAACP's struggle to move its members to support civil equality for the LGBT community, http://www.pamshouseblend.com, Sept. 4.

Advertisement
Topics: Opinions
Advertisement
Advertisement