"In Rosarito [Mexico] during the Titanic filming, Leo[nardo DiCaprio] and four or five of his gang were tossed out of a local disco, Rock and Roll Taco, for 'dancing inappropriately, with one guy lying on top of another guy,' according to the club's manager."

--People magazine, Jan. 26.

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"Unless my 'gaydar' has somehow gone completely haywire ... twinkle-eyed little Gary [Bauer, president of the Family Research Council] and Ralph [Reed, former executive director of the Christian Coalition], like a number of other prominent conservative politicians and 'family value' charlatans, both match the facial, vocal, and behavioral profile of a closeted gay man which I have come to recognize, even from a distance, through years of direct personal experience with many such men, starting with my own former self. Bauer and Reed match it so well, in fact, that I feel quite confident in saying, if they aren't gay, neither are my husband and I! [W]henever either Bauer or Reed inveighs against gay rights, all I can think about is how to make him take an expertly-administered penile erection test, or a good dose of sodium pentothal, or a polygraph, or a voiceprint analysis, any and all of which should help prove that he is turned on by guys the same way I am but just lies about it."

--Columnist Sam Garrison in Roanoke, Virginia's Blue Ridge Lambda Press. In 1974, Garrison was the chief Republican counsel of theRichard Nixon impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee.

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"Any child can look at me and draw whatever conclusion they want to inspire them in their life. I do not mind being used that way. But I don't have a desire to do that for adults. I don't want to have some adjective preceding my name for the rest of my life, whatever it may be, however people want to pigeonhole me. Is that mildly vague enough?"

--Rosie O'Donnell to US magazine, February issue.

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"Many AIDS service organizations seem to have become omnipotent and therefore unaccountable."

--Mayor Willie Brown to the San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 27.

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"The private sector is huge and making a fat living off of AIDS. There is no recourse for people with AIDS to do anything about it."

--Jeff Getty, who made headlines two years ago when he was injected with bone marrow from a baboon in a failed attempt to find a new AIDS therapy, to the San Francisco Chronicle, Jan. 27.

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"The word ['barebacking'] should be banished from the vocabulary of any person who truly cares about the direction of the AIDS epidemic. Gay men and those who work in and run AIDS agencies have a particular responsibility to stand up to the lethal seduction of this idiotic euphemism. We all need to start calling it what it is: unprotected, unsafe anal intercourse. If you must substitute a phrase for it, use a fair one that tells the facts. Call it 'death by stupidity.' Call it 'I'm going to throw away my life because I refuse to think of the consequences of my actions.' Call it what it is: irresponsible."

--Philadelphia Daily News columnist Mubarak Dahir, Jan. 13.

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--Filmmaker John Waters to the Advocate, Feb. 3.

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"Gay chat rooms can be either a hunting ground for That One Special Someone, a means to 1970s-style fast-lane promiscuity (but with 1990s-style efficiency), or a venue for that most distinctive '90s phenomenon of all, cybersex. Gay chat rooms can bring out the worldclass fabricator in a person who never thought he was capable of deceit, yet also allow some people to tell their own deepest truths for the very first time. Indeed, with their wide-ranging coverage of sexual fetishes, chat rooms have made it possible for many people to _discover_ deep truths about themselves. Meanwhile, the plentitude and popularity of chat rooms with names like "str8 but curious" has bolstered suspicions that the percentage of people whose essential orientation is homosexual is not _under_ but _over_ 10%."

--Writer Bruce Bawer in a Feb. 3 Advocate column.

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"None of what I'm about to say is necessarily a fact. But let's assume, OK, that his [Bill Clinton's] sexual relationship with Hillary is not all it's supposed to be, let's assume that some of the allegations that Hillary -- sometimes not necessarily being into regular sex with men -- might be true."

--Political guru and sometimes Clinton adviser Dick Morris on KABC radio in Los Angeles, Jan. 27.

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"As a lesbian, I absolutely reject that [Hillary] is a lesbian. She's a puritan. The woman is an icebox."

--Author Camille Paglia on the Hillary lesbian rumors, to The New York Post, Jan. 29.

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"She's not gay. God no. I've only met her once, and I can't pass myself off as her best friend. But there's no way she's gay. Not in a million years [She's a] woman who very much responds to men."

--Lesbian author Rita Mae Brown on the Hillary lesbian rumors, to The New York Post, Jan. 29.

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"American cinema seems less like real life. And each time, [filmmakers] are more afraid to represent life. Sensuality is one of the few presents nature has given us. It's a present we must celebrate. But here [in the U.S.], when a film explores that, it makes people nervous."

--Gay Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodovar to the Associated Press, Jan. 28.

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--Actor Antonio Banderas on his gay scenes in filmmaker Pedro Almodovar's film Law of Desire, to the Associated Press, Jan. 28.

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"The gay community has been the base of my success. I'm one to know how supportive the gay community can be. They started with me when I was with Sylvester, who had a large following, and have grown with me all through the years. They've been there and supported me, even when I didn't have an album."

--Former Weather Girl Martha Wash ("It's Raining Men") to Denver's Out Front. Wash and Ru Paul recently re-recorded "It's Raining Men."

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"I'm never going to be a size eight. I'd look horrible if I were. I'm not going to buy into the idea that thin is the thing. I have a problem with people's idea of beauty. Everyone is not the same size. Folks have to get over it. People can be large and sexy."

--Former Weather Girl Martha Wash ("It's Raining Men") to Denver's Out Front.

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"My first reaction [when Ellen came out] was shock, and surprise, and worry about Ellen's well-being. I got books from the library [to learn more]. But never, for one moment, did it affect our relationship. That has always been great and very close. There was that period [of concern] but once I saw how OK she was with how she was, it had to be OK with me."

--Betty DeGeneres, Ellen's mom, to Chicago's Outlines, Jan. 28.

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"She [Ellen] does want to come back next year. The show is doing so much good for so many people, besides it being funny. She would really like to come back next year and she doesn't know whether she is or not. The more input they have, the more it is helpful. It's a big decision for them to make."

--Betty DeGeneres, Ellen's mom, to Chicago's Outlines, Jan. 28. (Write Jamie Tarses, Entertainment President, ABC-TV, 2040 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90037; fax (310) 557-7679; and Michael Eisner, Chairman, The Walt Disney Company, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 9152l; fax (818) 560-1930; http://www.disney.com/Mail)

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"I don't know how I managed to stay negative--luck, I suppose. My lover, John, was infected and sick while we were in that relationship; we fucked each other's butt, and I should have been infected; it's so patently unfair--there's no equity."

--Artist Tim Miller (one of the infamous NEA Four) to the AIDS magazine A&U, January issue.

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"All that has to happen for hostilities between queers and Xtian fundies to cease is for you guys to stop fucking with us: stop telling lies about us on your idiotic TV shows; stop opposing equal rights for gays and lesbians; stop calling her Ellen 'Degenerate'; and stop having a shit fit every time we drop by Disneyland."

--Syndicated columnist Dan Savage, Jan. 22.

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"The only point [in being a celebrity] was that it extended your social horizons -- you got to know people you would not know if you were unknown. Well, now anyone can be known because they can all go onto Internet, and therefore there's no point in being famous."

--Gay author Quentin Crisp, 89, to Australia's Sydney Star Observer, Dec. 18.

Rex Wockner's "Quote Unquote" is archived from mid-1994 onward at http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/world/wockner.html