"The only queer people are those who don't love anybody."
AND
"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 on being "queer"
"One should no more deplore homosexuality than left-handedness."
Towards a Quaker View of Sex, 1964
"The fact that we are all human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that distinguish humans from one another."
Simone de Beauvoir on people's similarities versus differences
"When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."
From the tombstone of a gay Vietnam veteran
"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 on homophobia in the military
"Soldiers who are not afraid of guns, bombs, capture, torture or death say they are afraid of homosexuals. Clearly we should not be used as soldiers; we should be used as weapons."
Letter to the editor, The Advocate
"Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands?"
Ernest Gaines on ill-conceived machismo
"If homosexuality is a disease, let's all call in queer to work: Hello. Can't work today, still queer."
Robin Tyler on a possible positive thing about being queer
"If time and space are curved, where do all of the straight people come from?"
Unknown
"What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it's curved like a road through mountains."
Tennessee Williams (A Streetcar Named Desire, 1947) defining "straight"
"I'd rather be black than gay because when you're black you don't have to tell your mother."
Charles Pierce on the harder path for gays
"That word ‘lesbian’ sounds like a disease. And straight men know because they're sure that they're the cure."
Denise McCanles on straight men's "bent" way of thinking
"If gays are granted rights, next we'll have to give rights to prostitutes and to people who sleep with St. Bernards and to nailbiters."
Anita Bryant proving how ill-informed a person can be
"The radical right is so homophobic that they're blaming global warming on the AIDS quilt."
Dennis Miller on the fear of the homosexuals
"Jesse Helms and Newt Gingrich were shaking hands congratulating themselves on the introduction of an antigay bill in Congress. If it passes, they won't be able to shake hands, because it will then be illegal for a prick to touch an asshole."
Judy Carter on shameful politics
"My own belief is that there is hardly anyone whose sexual life, if it were broadcast, would not fill the world at large with surprise and horror."
W. Somerset Maugham speaking common sense
"I am reminded of a colleague who reiterated 'all my homosexual patients are quite sick' - to which I finally replied 'so are all my heterosexual patients'."
Ernest van den Haag, psychotherapist, on generalizations
"For a long time I thought I wanted to be a nun. Then I realized that what I really wanted to be was a lesbian."
Mabel Maney on the love of women
"When it comes to exploring the sea of love, I prefer buoys."
Andrew G. Dehel on, well, boys
"If male homosexuals are called 'gay', then female homosexuals should be called 'ecstatic'."
Shelly Roberts on terms
"People who can't think of anything else but whether the person you love is indented or convex should be doomed not to think of anything else but that, and so miss the other ninety-five percent of life."
Robert Towne on the ill-effect of narrow-mindedness
"To fall in love with yourself is the first secret of happiness. I did so at the age of four-and-a-half. Then if you're not a good mixer you can always fall back on your own company."
Robert Morley preaches self-love first, among anything else
"There is only one success – to spend your life in your own way."
Christopher Morley states the obvious
"The most important thing is to be whatever you are without shame."
Rod Steiger on pride
"Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry."
Gloria Steinem on wanting who/what we are
"The best things and best people rise out of their separateness. I'm against a homogenized society because I want the cream to rise."
Robert Frost on uniqueness
"I require three things in a man: he must be handsome, ruthless, and stupid."
Dorothy Parker making the right choice
"Love is the answer, but while you are waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty good questions."
Woody Allen's take on love - and sex
“The glass ceiling gets more pliable when you turn up the heat.”
Pauline R. Kezer attacks the glass ceiling
"The only reason I feel guilty about masturbation is that I do it so badly."
David Steinberg mocking his self-pleasuring activity
"Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose honest arrogance and have seen no occasion to change."
Frank Lloyd Wright on sticking to being right
"The most fatal illusion is the settled point of view. Since life is growth and motion a fixed point of view kills anybody who has one."
Brook Atkinson's take on the rolling stone
"Live all you can; it's a mistake not to. It doesn't so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life. If you haven't had that, what have you had?"
Henry James on living to the fullest |
