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| Quotes & Quips |
| Compiled By Jack Nichols
The Semi-Outing of a Hip-Movement Dissident
But my partner, Alison, sounded an early warning about (Ricky) Martin as we watched
him on a subsequent "Saturday Night Live," where he seemed stiff, nervous and
off-kilter. "Something's not right," she said ominously. "No real men will
ever respect a guy who moves his hips like that…. The great Latin lovers had
something to offer women. Martin's stuck on himself."….
Whether or not Martin is gay or bisexual didn't concern me until I saw entertainment news footage of him posed on a couch and awkwardly embracing a delirious girl fan (winner of a meet-the-star contest). "What a lunk!" I said to myself. "This guy's in over his head." Camille Paglia— "Ricky Martin – Superstud or Closet Case?" Salon, May 26 Do You Take This Person to be Your Lawfully Wedded Tax Break? If marriage is only a legal mechanism that allows two people to enjoy certain tax breaks as long as the relationship endures, then to gouge each other for restitution when it's over, what does it matter how such a culture defines a spouse? Herman Gooden—London Free Press, London, Ontario, Canada, May 26 Canada's Supreme Court Rattles the Prejudiced
The situation brings to mind the words of 17th century writer William
Hazlitt in his text On Prejudice: "Without the aid of prejudice and custom,
I should not be able to find my way across the room."
The Supreme Court ruling evidently left a lot of people feeling like they had to navigate, blindfolded, a room whose corners had shifted, worried they might perhaps bump into a homosexual. There's no doubt the ruling changes the "room" of Canadian society, but not in the ways critics fear. Marianne Meed Ward—"Redefining the Family"—Toronto Sun, May 24 Anatomical Overfocus Quarantined from female rhythms and scruples, the male sex drive functions at fever pitch.
And yet the mood within this bubble of hyperstimulation is rather lugubrious and disheartened. Boredom swoops in without heterosexual clutter to obstruct its advent….The spellbound move, in the mid-nineties, through London and the lovingly described countryside of Dorset. Partners change, and new loves shoot up in blasted hearts, but the usual 'shake of the sex-dice' comes up snake eyes. The Spell suggests a "Midsummer Night's Dream" that ends when Titania awakens and announces, 'Methought I was enamor'd of an ass."
John Updike—Book Review--"A Same-Sex Idyll-- Under 'The Spell'—The New Yorker, May 31 Just Don't Mention Boinking! Kids are capable of understanding anything as long as adults take the time to explain it properly. Just say, ''Uncle Rick and Uncle Dennis are having a special ceremony to celebrate their friendship, and while it is not exactly a wedding because they are both men, we love them and want to be part of their lives.''
A Readers Response-- Ann Landers column, The Faggot Factor
The word "faggot" has never merely meant homosexual. It has always
carried the extrasexual connotation of being unmanly…Add the general crisis of
masculinity and you've got a generation for which identity is a much thornier
issue than it used to be.
Can one have a girlfriend and still be a "fag"? Absolutely, since it's men who brand one another with that epithet. Wielding the F-word is a way for some guys to dominate others by convincing them that their masculinity can be lost. Teenagers are especially susceptible to this Big Lie. Take a kid who's seething with insecurity, bait him on a regular basis, and you've given him a good reason to celebrate Hitler's birthday. Harris and Klebold responded to their degradation in a typically compensatory way – they assembled their own cult of rogue masculinity. Richard Goldstein—"The Faggot Factor"—Orange County Weekly, May 21-27 In Praise of Government-Sponsored Censorship You don't understand the mood of middle Australia on this, you don't understand how deeply many parents feel about it, with some justification… I subscribe generally to the theory that adults should be allowed to read, hear and see and view whatever they choose to, but there is an argument in relation to children and there is no reason in principle why that shouldn't be extended to the Internet. Australia's Prime Minister John Howard--Responding to Free Speech Protestors, May 28 Rep. Bob Barr: A Genuine Horse's Patootie
 A number of Washington politicians competed for the award, but Barr
was flank and shoulders below the competition. He
has tried to subvert the U.S. Constitution and the will of the
American people. He has misused his political power to attack women,
minorities and gays. He has voted against good, proven programs like
Head Start and Aid to Families with Dependent Children. He is, in
other words, a genuine horse's patootie.
Carole Shields—PFAW President Discusses the Second Annual Equine Posterior Achievement Award at a People for the American Way Foundation Luncheon Ceremony, May 27, Washington, D.C. The Equine Posterior Achievement Award is given to a "leader" whose abilities to misrepresent an issue and pander to our baser instincts have reached ridiculous levels. Sex, Values & Videotape I only wish I could be there in person to thank you for all you are doing to make the promise of equal justice real in every community, and to make sure that the democratic process is open to all Americans… With your help we have made it clear that no American citizen should be denied a job, a home or any opportunity because of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation – that is wrong and it diminishes us all…Tolerance, justice, opportunity, inclusivity – these are Americans' values and the values of the Democratic Party. Hillary Rodham Clinton-- in a Videotaped Message to Stonewall Democrats Meeting in Atlanta Pitch Black Grope Rooms & 'Bend Me Over' Motorcycles
The traffic in the back room, a dark space where men find furtive and anonymous sexual solace, has increased dramatically since protease inhibitors were introduced three years ago. Traffic is even more brisk at Chaps and the Eagle, the Fort Lauderdale area's other "backroom bars," where mazelike areas out of sight of beer bottles and bartenders are specially designed to cater to sex. All three bars provide ample space for late-night sexual free-for-alls: Chaps has a squat, rotating table for group play; the Eagle has pitch-black "grope" rooms; the Ramrod a "bend-me-over" motorcycle.
Jay Cheshes— "Sexual Roulette"--New Times, Broward/Palm Beach, May 27 |
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