Gay Today: Quote

Quotes & Quips

Compiled By Jack Nichols

Those Wild Gay Orangutans

Until now homosexual behaviour has only been seen among captive orangutans or rehabilitated animals which have had close contact with humans…Other great apes known to take part in homosexual behaviour include male mountain gorillas, female and male bonobos and humans.

ananova.com --"Gay Surprise for Researchers"-December 7

An Excuse to Straddle

The world may have changed since Sept. 11, but some things definitely remain the same. A recent television interview featured two firefighters who had survived the towers' collapse, because one of them had bravely risked his life to pull his "brother" out of the rubble. To free the trapped man, he had to straddle his fellow firefighter in a sexually suggestive way. "I told him you can beat the shit out of me later, after I get you outta here," the rescuer laughed.

Paula Martinac-"The Other Side of 'Manliness' "-The Front Page, November 23

Walt Whitman: Presidents & Politics Yesterday & Today

A chapter on "Views of America" is filled with observations that could have been made yesterday. For instance, his remark on the Harrison Administration being "a little snarling, pecking administration, with a big tuft of pretended dignity." Remind you of any recent presidencies? Or his patently correct remark that Washington "is a stupid place compared to New York." Or his disgust that the American people "are lethargic - let things go - suffer themselves to be milked and thrown away by a class of political scoundrels." Here is Walt on campaign finance reform: "God help our liberties when money has finally got our institutions in its clutch."

Gary Schmidgall-"Walt Whitman at Home"--Interview by The Gay & Lesbian Review, September-October, 2001

A Triumphant Gay History Month

The Plymouth-Canton school district has been ordered to apologize to two gay teachers who were forced to tear down gay history month displays at West Middle School and Salem High School more than two years ago.

Tony Bruscato-"Ruling favors gay display"-- Plymouth Observer (Michigan) December 7

Onan's Progeny

A prestigious Canadian arts centre has paid a man more than $1400 to ejaculate seven times. Mexican performance artist Israel Mora's semen is on display in seven glass phials at the Banff Centre in Alberta…The artist says the phials represent seven members of his family. They're displayed in a cooler, which has been strung up between two trees at the centre.

MX News-- The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd., (Australia), December 7

Log Cabin Republican-Style
Theories Fall Flat

A new gay-issues think tank's four-week national print ad campaign intended to evoke debate on how the gay agenda has been impacted by the terror attacks of September 11 is falling flat… The ad campaign, which began Thursday, November 29 in the Washington Post, excerpts a commentary published by Liberty Education Forum president Richard Tafel, titled "United We Stand: Gay Politics After September 11."

Matthew S. Bajko-" Gay conservative think tank's ad lands with a thud"-Bay Area Reporter, December 6

Subverting the Constitution for 'Security'

Polls show terrorized Americans willing to subvert our constitution to hold Soviet-style secret military trials. No presumption of innocence; no independent juries; no right to choice of counsel; no appeal to civilian judges for aliens suspected of being in touch with terrorists…President Bush had no political motive in suspending, with a stroke of his pen, habeas corpus for 20 million people; his 90% popularity needs no boost. The feebleness of the Democrats' response, however -with the possible exception of Senator Pat Leahy -is highly political. Tom Daschle is waffling wildly…

William Safire-"Voices of Negativism"-New York Times, December 6

Minnesota's Taliban Wanna-Be's

The religious right has begun yet another attack upon lesbian and gay Minnesotans…The extremists have great disrespect for the American tradition of secular government. While they are nothing like Afghanistan's Taliban, they do share an occasional similarity. Principal among these is a deep belief that their own religious rules should control public policy. Unlike the Taliban, they gain power bloodlessly, legally, even pleasantly. There's nothing dramatic about they way they do it. It's mundane. It's what happens to the democratic process when most of the electorate is apathetic and a small number of true believers are propelled by tireless zeal.

Robert Sykora-" Religious extremists working hard to dictate public policy"- Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 6

A Web Site Does Not a Gay Group Make

War has been declared in America…No, I'm not talking about another Osama bin Laden-planned attack on innocent Americans…But terrorism is indeed the name of the demented game of which I speak…This time, however, the terrorist designers are a homosexual-rights group and the targets are conservative leaders - including me - who have been condemned for promoting Judeo-Christian ideals.

Jerry Falwell-"Terrorism by Any Other Name"--Falwell Confidential--November 30

An Airline's Tit Twisting Terrorists

"Wind the clock" was regular entertainment for some crew employed to clean planes. It involved sitting on fellow cleaners and twisting their nipples…The clock episodes were among physical and sexual bullying detailed in an Australian Industrial Relations Commission decision…The name of the airline, the victims and their harassers have been suppressed.

Leonie Lamont-"Airline bullies lose jobs appeal"-The Age, December 4 (Australia)