compiled by Howard Israel
"Like, maybe I'm having a clandestine affair with Ricky Martin. I know it's really gonna upset a lot of gay men – I'm sure hundreds of 'em are gonna be jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge – but I ain't available. I ain't gay. Sorry."
– Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in an interview about comments that accused the never-married senator of supporting immigration issues out of fear that the Democrats might otherwise expose his homosexuality, http://www.nytimes.com, June 28.
"We are a gay-friendly city, and we're proud of that. It had an effect on me 30 years ago, when my brother told me he was gay. It was a meaningful time in my life. It didn't change anything of how I thought about them. It made me a better person, actually. I respect them for being open about their sexual orientation. We all have differences one way or another."
– Francis Slay, mayor of St. Louis, in an article titled "Gays and lesbians are taking more public role in politics, as elected officials, activists," about his brother and two sisters who are gay, http://www.stlbeacon.org, June 26.
"We call on Gay Inc. to remember that it was not the privileged assimilationists who first stormed the gates making it possible for this 40 year campaign for equality. In reality, it was lower income people of color who bravely defied transphobic and homophobic violence with such a resistance that the whole world knew the LGBT community had had enough, resulting in irreversible revolution."
– Ashley Love, in her blog titled "Sylvia Rivera's Words Exposing Gay Inc's Oppression of Trans People Still Ring True Today," honoring transgender pioneer, Sylvia Rivera, http://transformingmedia.blogspot.com, July 2.
"Nobody seems to be sure just where trans people belong. A lot of trans men accept shelter and solace in the queer women's community, allowing themselves to be more or less comfortably lumped in with butches and bois, while other trans guys blend in with cis gay men. Trans women, on the other hand, have no such wealth of options. Women who spent time in the gay male community are offered no further shelter by it once they begin to transition and trans lesbians are often looked upon with suspicion and hostility by the queer women's community. And where in all of this do gender queer trans people belong?"
– Asher Bauer, in his column titled "Where's My Trans Pride?," http://carnalnation.com, June 25.
"By him coming out it kind of sets the tone for other people to follow the lead. It gives me that hope that I can still be successful within the mainstream society and I can still be who I am."
– Keisha Brown, a church parishioner, in an article titled "Openly gay gospel artist preaches acceptance," about openly gay Pastor Anthony Williams, also known as gospel singer Tonex, http://www.thegrio.com, July 7.
"Of the slogans chanted from the front lines of the gay liberation movement in the '60s and '70s, the call to 'come out!' was perhaps the loudest. And in the four decades since the Stonewall Riots marked the beginning of modern LGBT activism, the self-affirming phrase 'Gay Pride' has evolved into a synonym for the movement itself."
– Eleanor Moonier, in a column titled "With Increased Visibility, Cultural Attitudes Toward Gays and Lesbians Shift," http://www.huffingtonpost.com, July 2.
