compiled by Howard Israel
"A new national survey, nearly nine out of 10 (87 percent) of heterosexuals said that if someone were to come out to them as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, it would have a positive or no impact on how they would view gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people. The survey also revealed that two out of three (67 percent) heterosexual adults agree that if someone they knew is gay or lesbian, they'd want that individual to be open and honest with them about it, rather than feel the need to hide who he or she really is.'
– In a new nationwide survey of 2,455 U.S. adults, of whom 287 self identified as GLBT (which includes an oversample of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adults), conducted online between Sept. 15-22, 2008, by Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications, Oct. 10. See the survey results at http://www.harrisinteractive.com.
"The experience of discrimination is different for different people, and we draw wildly different conclusions from it. While gay progressives believe we must have more government in our lives to end discrimination, gay conservatives are wary of interventions in the private sphere. While many movement leaders would punish anti-gay "hate speech," gay conservatives want freedom even for thought we hate. Even when we agree on issues, we have very different rationales. Gay leftists tend to see access to marriage and the military as legalistic matters of 'civil rights,' even as they distrust these institutions. Gay conservatives eschew such rights talk, and instead see these institutions as important traditionalizing, stabilizing and integrating forces in our lives. Gay conservatives believe the path to happiness leads through the inclusion of homosexuals in all aspects of American life. Gay leftists dismiss this as 'assimilation.' Gay conservatives want a place at the table. Gay leftists want to upend the table."
– Dale Carpenter, in an op-ed column about the differences between gay conservatives and liberals, Bay Area Reporter, http://www.ebar.com, Oct. 9.
"The Connecticut Supreme Court did their job and rightfully upheld the freedom to marry provided for in the Connecticut state constitution. With Connecticut joining California and Massachusetts, and other countries around the world, Americans will yet again be given the chance to experience the lived reality that ending exclusion from marriage helps families and harms no one."
– Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, in a press release regarding the Connecticut Supreme Court's decision that "gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice," http://www.freedomtomarry.org, Oct. 10.
"We were denied the right to marry a person of another race. Any time government intervenes and tells you what you can or can't do, it's a denial of your rights."
– Alice A. Huffman, president of the California chapter of the National Association For the Advancement of Colored People, commenting on conflict within the black community in California over Proposition 8 which would reinstate the ban on gay marriage, http://www.CBSNews.com, Oct. 5.
"I am just a citizen – a straight, Republican, Christian conservative. I am a husband and a father of two. For the last few years it has come to my attention that people who are gay and lesbian in our community are socially punished by Christians. They are ostracized, refused employment, not allowed in groups of churches as members or as friends. In my opinion the Bible means what it says when it commands us not to judge. It says to love even our enemies, and gay people are not our enemy. It says to love our neighbors as ourselves, not just Christian or straight neighbors. When will we as a Christian community start doing this? I ask my fellow Christians to practice love more fully when it comes to people whose actions may seem threatening. The Christian lifestyle is not about who is more powerful socially, it is about loving others as yourselves. We are not practicing this here. Gay and lesbian people are as human as you and me; we should treat them as such, not just because the Bible says to, but because it is the human thing to do."
– Bryan Bridges Verona, Va., in a letter to the editor titled "Christians owe all respect, including gays," http://www.NewsLeader.com, Oct. 2.
