Compiled by Howard Israel
"A funny thing happened after Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military: A curious silence befell much of the right. If this were a Sherlock Holmes story, it would be the case of the attack dogs that did not bark. John McCain, commandeering the spotlight as usual, did fulminate against the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' But the press focus on McCain, the crazy man in Washington's attic, was misleading. His yapping was an exception, not the rule. Many of his Republican colleagues said little or nothing. The right's noise machine was on mute."
– Frank Rich, in his column titled "Smoke the Bigots Out of the Closet," about the Senate Armed Services Committee hearings addressing the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," http://www.nytimes.com, Feb. 7.
"If you're a gay man and you want to play a straight role, you don't get cast – and if a gay man wants to play a gay role now, you don't get cast. I think it needs to be addressed and I feel complicit in the problem. I don't mean to be. I think we should all be allowed to play whoever, but I think there are still some invisible boundaries which are uncrossable."
– Colin Firth, after being nominated for his role as a gay college professor in "A Single Man," quoted in an article titled "Where are Hollywood's gay men?," about Hollywood's hidden gay actors, http://www.timesonline.co.uk, Feb. 5.
"Many clinicians wrongly assume that lesbians face the same health issues as heterosexual women when in fact, this population is more at risk for cancer, heart disease and substance abuse. As the first evidence-based textbook focused on lesbian health for clinicians, 'Lesbian Health 101' is intended to help doctors and nurses identify and more sensitively manage the needs of lesbian patients. Lesbians often face barriers in accessing quality health care due to lack of insurance, the non-legal status of their partners, homophobic attitudes among clinicians and gaps in research on their specific health issues. I hope in another 10 years, as we gather more data on which to base clinical guidelines and as health policies become more enlightened, that the need for this book or its content will have changed dramatically."
– Suzanne L. Dibble, DNSc, RN, and Patricia A. Robertson, MD, co-editors of "Lesbian Health 101: A Clinician's Guide," a cutting edge book about lesbian health, http://news.ucsf.edu, Feb. 4.
"Within the African-American LGBTQ community, Black History Month has always come under criticism. And rightly so! The absence of LGBTQ people of African descent in the month-long celebration is evidence of how race, gender and sexual politics of the dominant culture are reinscribed in black culture as well. It leads you to believe that the only movers and shakers in the history of people of African descent in the U.S. were and still are heterosexuals. And because of this heterosexist bias, the sheroes and heroes of LGBTQ people of African decent – like Pat Parker, Audre Lorde, Essex Hemphill, Joseph Beam, and Bayard Rustin – are mostly known and lauded within a subculture of black life."
– Rev. Irene Monroe, in a column titled "Do we still need to celebrate Black History Month?," http://www.bilerico.com, Feb. 5.
"These films tell inclusive and diverse stories of our community which grow awareness and understanding of the lives of gay and transgender people Images like the love and commitment between Ms. Rain and her partner in "Precious" and the isolation felt by George in "A Single Man" spark conversations that help Americans embrace their gay and transgender friends, family members and neighbors. We need to advocate for more gay-inclusive stories to be shared with mainstream audiences because as more people see these images, they realize that we have the same aspirations, hopes, and deserve the same chances to take care of our loved ones and families."
– Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, in a press release about recent Oscar nominations, http://www.glaad.org, Feb. 2.
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"When Americans are suffering economically and millions need jobs, it's shocking that the administration is focused on its ultra-liberal, militantly homosexualist agenda forcing the highlighting of homosexuals and homosexuality on an unwilling military. This is the equivalent of the spiritual rape of our military to satisfy the most extreme and selfish cadre of President Obama's kooky coalition. Thirteen months before 9-11, on the day New York City passed homosexual domestic partnership regulations, I joined a group of Rabbis at a City Hall prayer service, pleading with G-d not to visit disaster on the city of N.Y. We have seen the underground earthquake, tsunami, Katrina, and now Haiti. All this is in sync with a two thousand year old teaching in the Talmud that the practice of homosexuality is a spiritual cause of earthquakes. Once a disaster is unleashed, innocents are also victims just like in Chernobyl. We plead with saner heads in Congress and the Pentagon to stop sodomization of our military and our society. Enough is enough."
– Rabbi Yehuda Levin, quoted in a blog titled "American rabbi: Homosexuality can cause earthquakes," speaking against the repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, http://dscriber.com, Feb. 2.
"Our biggest insight is that the 'equality' argument is not connecting with the middle on marriage. Instead, we must show the middle that gay and lesbian couples are seeking to join in the true spirit of how the middle sees marriage. The middle thinks of marriage as an ideal as opposed to a legal construct, and they are not yet persuaded that gay couples fit into this ideal. For the middle, the ideal of marriage is about lifetime commitment, sacrifice, responsibility and obligation – not rights and benefits. To reach the middle, we need to show respect for the tradition of marriage and demonstrate that gay couples want to undertake the responsibilities that come with it, including making a lifetime commitment to another person."
– From the introduction of an analysis titled "Moving the Middle on Marriage: Lessons from Maine and Washington," about the difficulty for gay rights groups to persuade the elusive "middle" voter base at the ballot box with messages of fairness and equality, http://thirdway.org/publications/248, Feb. 2010.
