What They Say: Quotes By and About Us

GOOD GUYS | BAD GUYS

Homophobia: The irrational fear that three fags will break into your house and redecorate it against your will.
Tom Ammiano

I'm not really familiar with the history of this particular issue with regards to Star Trek; in fact, the first I ever heard of it was at our first junket when somebody asked if there was going to be an opportunity for a gay or lesbian character on the show. I was surprised at the question, because I had just assumed that over the course of the years that it had been addressed. I was surprised it was even an issue. Since then I haven't sat down with Rick and Brannon to discuss it. It does seem awkward [that nothing has ever happened].

I haven't heard anything coming down the pipeline, but I would be in favor of it. I would hope it would be handled in a great way. It would be wonderful, in my opinion, if it was not such a huge issue, but was just there.
Scott Bakula, Metrosource 2002

Everybody's journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality.
James Baldwin

In my lifetime I've been to bed with men, women, and odd pieces of furniture.
Tallulah Bankhead

You can't type what a lesbian is. We're anything and everything. The one thing in common is that we make love to other women. So give up trying to limit us.
Amanda Bearse

There are a lot of gays among the women surfers. We share rental cars, hotel rooms, dinner out. It makes us open with each ether. You wake up in the morning and hear toe rings clicking from two girls in the next bed.
Surfer Holly Beck, as quoted in the August 26, 2002 issue of Sports Illustrated

My lover asked me if I wanted to have children. I told her I didn't know, but that we should keep trying.
Suzy Berger

"I love it. It is the celebration of the flesh, something that is not done in northern Europe. Tolerance is the mark of any evolved society."
- U2 star Bono at Sydney's Mardi Gras parade, Feb. 28, 1998, according to the Sydney Sunday Telegraph."

This is a celebration of individual freedom, not of homosexuality. No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love. The only queer people are those who don't love anybody.
Rita Mae Brown on the Gay Olympics of 1982

My lesbianism is an act of Christian charity.  All those women out there praying for a man, and I'm giving them my share. 
Rita Mae Brown

No government has the right to tell its citizens when or whom to love.  The only queer people are those who don't love anybody.
Rita Mae Brown, speech,  August 28, 1982

I became a lesbian because of women, because women are beautiful, strong, and compassionate.
Rita Mae Brown

As everyone knows, a fag is a homosexual gentleman who has just left the room.
Truman Capote

One distressing thing is the way men react to women who assert their equality: their ultimate weapon is to call them unfeminine. They think she is anti-male; they even whisper that she's probably a lesbian.
Shirley Chisolm

Many gay men ... helped me develop my own sense of style, especially one ... who used to be Alec Guinness's dresser in the '60s. His whole thing was, "It doesn't matter what you're wearing so long as you get noticed."
Margaret Cho, as quoted in the September 2002 issue of Movieline

It is . . . the right of each individual in America to be judged on their merits and abilities and to be allowed to contribute to society without facing unfair discrimination on account of sexual orientation.
U.S. President Clinton supporting the Employment Non-Discrimination Act on April 24, 1997

We turned [sexual ambiguity] into a big political subject, and it ain't. It ain't at all you know. Why should we be ashamed of anything we are?
Tony Curtis, talking about his sexually ambiguous roles in Some Like It Hot  and Spartacus, in the September  2002 issue of Details

We all carry some variety of infirmity or sorrow with us - let's treat each other kindly. None of us is getting out of our human condition alive.
Bette Davis, 1939, - expressing her attitude towards homosexuals

CBS really wants me on TV. That's their aim. My aim is to have an all-gay sitcom someday, with heterosexuals as token guest stars. Let them be the next-door neighbors for a change.
Harvey Fierstein

Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?
Ernest Gaines

You don't have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.
Barry Goldwater

As far as coming out, I never really did that exactly; I just went along with the time. I never pulled an Ellen in announcing 'I'm gay!' At every opening night, I just quietly brought a boyfriend on my arm."
Veteran theater composer/songwriter Jerry Herman ("La Cage Aux Folles," "Hello Dolly," "Mame," "Mack and Mabel" to name a few) to Art & Understanding, February 1998 issue.

Don't tell me that you're doing something valuable for me when you're quietly climbing your way to the top of the straight ladder.
Eric Holeman

This redneck came up to me and said, "What do you want me to call you? Queer? Fag? Homo?" I said, "You can call me... Paul Jacek."
Paul Jacek

If we even tolerate any oppression of gay and lesbian Americans, if we join those who would intrude upon the choices of our hearts, then who among us shall be free?
June Jordan

Lesbian and gay people are a permanent part of the American workforce, who currently have no protection from the arbitrary abuse of their rights on the job. For too long, our nation has tolerated the insidious form of discrimination against this group of Americans, who have worked as hard as any group, paid their taxes like everyone else, and yet have been denied equal protection under the law.
Mrs. Coretta Scott King

Why should I paint dead fish, onions, and beer glasses? Girls are so much prettier.
Marie Laurencin

The Bible contains six admonishments to homosexuals, and 362 to heterosexuals. This doesn't mean God doesn't love heterosexuals, it's just that they need more supervision.
Lynn Lavner

Girls who put out are tramps. Girls who don't are ladies. This is, however, a rather archaic usage of the word. Should one of you boys happen upon a girl who doesn't put out, do not jump to the conclusion that you have found a lady. What you have probably found is a lesbian.
Fran Lebowitz

Dear Miss Manners: What should I say when I am introduced to a homosexual "couple"?
Gentle Reader: "How do you do?" "How do you do?"
Judith Martin, Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, 1982

They gave me a medal for killing a man, and a discharge for loving one.
Sargeant Leonard Matlovich

"My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared when I could have been out there loving someone. Don't make that mistake yourself. Life's too damn short." 
Armistead Maupin 

That word "lesbian" sounds like a disease.  And straight men know because they're sure that they're the cure.
Denise McCanles

It always seemed to me a bit pointless to disapprove of homosexuality.  It's like disapproving of rain.
Francis Maude

The radical right is so homophobic that they're blaming global warming on the AIDS quilt.
Dennis Miller

Most of our parents are straight. Heteros who hate us should stop having us!
Lynda Montgomery

"A study done in the Des Moines public schools showed that the average high school student hears anti-gay comments like 'dyke' and 'faggot' a stunning 26 times a day, and that teachers who witness such incidents do nothing a shocking 97 percent of the time. The results of this kind of behavior for gay and lesbian students is terrifying."
Martina Navratilova addressing the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network Oct. 25, 1997,  in New York City.

I'm a supporter of gay rights.  And not a closet supporter either.  From the time I was a kid, I have never been able to understand attacks upon the gay community.  There are so many qualities that make up a human being... by the time I get through with all the things that I really admire about people, what they do with their private parts is probably so low on the list that it is irrelevant.
Paul Newman

I have lived and slept in the same bed with English countesses and Prussian farm women...no woman has excited passions among women more than I have.
Florence Nightingale

Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common.
Dorothy Parker

If the General pleases I will be happy to do this investigation... But, sir, it would be unfair of me not to tell you, my name is going to head the list... You should also be aware that you're going to have to replace all the file clerks, the section heads, most of the commanders, and the motor pool... I think you should also take into consideration that there have been no illegal pregnancies, no cases of venereal disease, and the General himself has been the one to award good conduct commendations and service commendations to these members of the WAC detachment.
WII WAC sergeant Johnnie Phelps (1922-1997), when ordered by General Eisenhower to ferret out the lesbians in her battalion; Eisenhower rescinded the order.

I'm sorry I never had a homosexual relationship, because I know there must be many joys and pleasures and degrees of closeness in those relationships.
Gene Roddenberry, quoted in The Last Conversation by Yvonne Fern

It wasn't easy telling my parents that I'm gay. I told them at Thanksgiving. I said, "Mom, would you please pass the gravy to a homosexual?" She passed it to my father. A terrible scene followed.
Bob Smith

My mom blames California for me being a lesbian. 'Everything was fine until you moved out there.' 'That's right, Mom, we have mandatory lesbianism in West Hollywood. The Gay Patrol busted me, and I was given seven business days to add a significant amount of flannel to my wardrobe.
Coley Sohn

Why can't they have gay people in the army?  Personally, I think they are just afraid of a thousand guys with M16s going, "Who'd you call a faggot?"
 John Stewart

Just imagine how boring life would be if we were all the same. My idea of a perfect world is one in which we really appreciated each other's differences: Short, tall; Democrat, Republican; black, white; gay, straight--a world in which all of us are equal, but definitely not the same.
Barbra Streisand

If homosexuality is a disease, let's all call in queer to work:  "Hello.  Can't work today, still queer."
Robin Tyler

You could move. 
Abigail Van Buren, "Dear Abby," in response to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the quality of the neighborhood

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that homosexuality 'is a lifestyle I don't agree with.' This is a trope you hear from the religious right a good deal, and it seems to have entered the conservative mainstream, rolling easily off the tongue. But it is a very odd thing to say. No one (speaking rationally) says, 'I don't agree with the Pacific Ocean' or 'I don't agree with the Grand Canyon.' Facts are not things you agree or disagree with. You can agree or disagree with viewpoints, thoughts or ideas, but homosexuality is not a viewpoint or an idea. It is a thing, an attribute, a nature, a fact.
Paul Varnell

"In the '50s and '60s, gay men seemed to despise one another. The idea of hanging out with another gay man was just not something you did."
- Author Edmund White to Atlanta's Etcetera magazine, March 6, 1998.

In the town of Alamo, CA, the residents living on a street named "Gay Court" were so embarrassed that they changed the name to "High Eagle Court." I guess the name "Homophobic Idiot Boulevard" was already taken.
Danny Williams

The next time someone asks you, 'Hey, howdja get to be a homosexual anyway?' tell them, 'Homosexuals are chosen first on talent, then interview, then the swimsuit and evening gown competition pretty much gets rid of the rest of them.
Karen Williams

The civil rights movement was not made from whole cloth. Nor were its achievements limited to the interests of African Americans. It was part of a narrative of extending human rights to those who had been denied them that helped remove discriminatory barriers for many, not least white women and Jews. Its roots, like its appeal, were universal. It drew inspiration from Gandhi (among others) and can give inspiration to the likes of Norris and other gay activists.

There are two main reasons why this comparison jars with many. The first is blatant homophobia. It is far easier to marginalise the lesbian and gay agenda if you can sever any association between it and other struggles for equality.  The second is latent homophobia, which argues that such comparisons trivialise racism, as though the right to love who you want and still keep your job, your home and sometimes your life is a trifling matter.
Gary Younge, "Extreme prejudice", The Guardian, Monday March 7, 2005

 

And the bad guys get their own little section:

As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children.
Anita Bryant, 1977

"Unless we get medically lucky, in three or four years, one of the options discussed will be the extermination of homosexuals." 
Paul Cameron, 1985 Conservative Political Action Conference 

"God hates homosexuality"
 Jerry Falwell on TV

"[Vice President Gore] recently praised the lesbian actress who plays 'Ellen' on ABC Television...I believe he may even put children, young people, and adults in danger by his public endorsement of deviant homosexual behavior...Our elected leaders are attempting to glorify and legitimize perversion." 
Jerry Falwell as quoted by People for the American Way, "Hostile Climate", 1998, p.9.

"Someone must not be afraid to say, 'moral perversion is wrong.' If we do not act now, homosexuals will 'own' America!...If you and I do not speak up now, this homosexual steamroller will literally crush all decent men, women, and children who get in its way...and our nation will pay a terrible price!"
Jerry Falwell as quoted by  People for the American Way, "Hostile Climate," 1997, p.15.

"...Hatred for men, which is very typical of a lesbian experience"
Kristi Hamrick, Family Research Council

...one of the primary goals of the homosexual rights movement is to abolish all age of consent laws and to eventually recognize pedophiles as the 'prophets' of a new sexual order.
"Homosexual Activists Work to Normalize Sex With Boys," FRC publication, July 1999
http://www.frc.org/misc/bl057.pdf

We've got to have some common sense about a disease transmitted by people deliberately engaging in unnatural acts.
Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), on why he opposed approval of the Ryan White CARE act, whi+ch funds AIDS research

"There is a strong undercurrent of pedophilia in the homosexual subculture. Homosexual activists want to promote the flouting of traditional sexual prohibitions at the earliest possible age....they want to encourage a promiscuous society - and the best place to start is with a young and credulous captive audience in the public schools."
Robert Knight, Family Research Council http://www.frc.org/insight/is93f1hs.html

Homosexuals have never been forced to sit in the back of the bus. They are as privileged a group as any. To compare their attempts to affirm deviant sexual conduct to the legitimate discrimination claims of true minorities is a sham.
Robert H. Knight, FRC Director of Cultural Studies
FRC's CultureFacts July 28, 1999
http://www.frc.org/culture/cu99g4.html

I don't believe in the gay movement....I think they should stay to themselves, just climb back into the cupboards....I don't think they are gay at all, they are very unhappy.
Rupert Murdoch in 1980.

"Not only is homosexuality a sin, but anyone who supports fags is just as guilty as they are. You are both worthy of death (Romans 1:32)." 
Rev. Fred Phelps quoted by State Press (Arizona State University), March 11, 1998.

Women's liberation and gay liberation [are] part of the same thing: a weakening of the moral standards of this nation. It is appalling to see parades in San Francisco and elsewhere claiming "gay pride" and all that. What in the world do they have to be proud of?
Nancy Reagan quoted in The Globe in 1981

It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.
Pat Robertson

Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians.
Pat Robertson at the 1992 Republican National Convention

When lawlessness is abroad in the land, the same thing will happen here that happened in Nazi Germany. Many of those people involved with Adolph Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals--the two things seem to go together.
Pat Robertson

"...the acceptance of homosexuality is the last step in the decline of Gentile civilization." --Pat Robertson, of the Christian Broadcasting Network, warned that hurricanes could hit Orlando, Fla., because of gay events there. 
Pat Robertson Time magazine, Oct 26, 1998

I'm sorry — hear it one more time, perfectly clearly: If you're gay or a lesbian, it's a biological error that inhibits you from relating normally to the opposite sex. The fact that you are intelligent, creative and valuable is all true. The error is in your inability to relate sexually intimately, in a loving way to a member of the opposite sex — it is a biological error.
Laura Schlessinger December 8, 1998 on her Radio show

[Homosexuality] is the opposite of love for God. It is a rebellion against God and God's natural order, and embodies a deep-seated hatred against true religion.
Steven A. Schwalm, Family Research Council
THE ASSAULT ON CHRISTIANS BY THE MILITANT HOMOSEXUAL MOVEMENT http://www.frc.org/podium/pd98j2hs.html

TALK ABOUT IT

As with so many sections, this one will remain a work in progress. I know there are more quotes out there. Feel free to drop me a note with your favorites. 

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