Gay Today: Quote

Quotes & Quips

Compiled By Jack Nichols

Vogue Afghanistan: A Chic Sheik

Even new recruits to Al Qaeda know that the secret to looking radiant in battle is in the lighting. So, when the bombs start to fall, turn your back to the blasts. Not only will you avoid an unsightly forehead full of shrapnel, you will be able to take advantage of the fabulous back-lighting.

Mrs. Betty Bowers-Landover Baptist, October 20- www.landoverbaptist.org

A Taste of Honey

Several cathedrals have competed as to who has the genuine foreskin of Jesus, following his circumcision (Luke 2:21). Catherine of Siena's wedding ring, with which she married Christ, was made of it; the Viennese Beguine Agnes Blannbekin, in a vision, received it in her mouth, finding it to taste like honey; Henry V's wife had one as part of her dowry; but alas, none has survived.

The Times--"Christianity's Famous Relics" (London) October 18 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,7-2001361919,00.html

Panty Hose = Rejuvenation

One wonders if Bill Clinton ever guessed that inside the two-piece suit of his adviser Ben Schatz was a drag queen yearning to breathe freely…And not only breathe, but harmonise - ideally, in lavender eye shadow and matching handbag. In one of the stranger career changes in history, Schatz - Harvard Law School graduate, adviser to then-President Clinton on AIDS and gay rights - has traded his briefs for pantyhose… "Becoming a fabulous singing drag queen can improve your health, rejuvenate your life and single-handedly double Revlon's market share," Schatz says.

MX News--The Herald and Weekly Times Ltd., Australia-October 19

Sticks and Stones will Break Their Bones, but…

But the lesson plan is there, in GLSEN's own workbook: The lesson is for middle school students - roughly 11-to-13-year-olds. It is designed to teach students why various words used to describe gays and lesbians are hurtful to sexual minorities. Included in the plan are 16 suggested words to discuss with students that would curl many parents' hair. The words are so distasteful that Board Chairman Paul Eichner refused to let them be read at this week's meeting, and I surely won't reprint them here.

Buddy Nevins-" Dirty words speak louder than actions"-- South Florida Sun-Sentinel, October 20

Egypt's Peeper Police

Sometimes the vice squad logged on to matchmaking services that advertised men seeking men, answered the announcements in Egypt and then arrested the men who turned up rendezvous. In one case a student in the United States planning to attend the American University in Cairo in the fall posted a notice on gay bulletin board asking if he would have to spend the year in celibacy. The Egyptian student who responded saying there was a gay community here was arrested…Since then 20 or so gay chat rooms where Egyptians used to talk about their problems or cruise have virtually shut down, and even those outside the country carry warnings. 'Egyptian states security police may be monitoring you!' reads one.

Neil MacFarquhar-" Egypt Tries 52 Men Suspected of Being Gay" Cairo bureau, New York Times, July 19

Kiss and Tell Killer

A 19-year-old Chicago man was ordered held Thursday on $350,000 bail, accused of killing a 31-year-old man after the victim allegedly threatened to tell the teen's new live-in girlfriend they had a gay relationship.

Chicago Sun-Times-" Teen accused of killing man for threatening to 'out' him" October 19

September 11: Surviving Domestic Partners

The surviving spouse of a firefighter or police officer will receive a lifetime tax-free pension equal to the victim's final annual earnings. But, depending on the victim's salary, a gay domestic partner of a firefighter or police officer may only receive a one-time payment of about $50,000, said Lorna Goodman, a spokeswoman for the city corporation counsel's office…"As the law now stands, partners of lesbian and gay victims would not be eligible for the social safety net," said Jennifer Middleton, a lawyer for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a gay advocacy group that has been working on this issue with a similar group, Empire State Pride Agenda.

New York Times-"Partners of Gay Victims Find the Law Calls them Strangers"- October 14

South Africa's Hole Pickers

A report on mortality rates revealing that AIDS is the biggest killer in South Africa was finally released. The government had delayed publication of the Medical Research Council's report, while the official statistics agency sought to pick holes in its findings.

The Economist-"Politics"-October 20-26

Businesses Crippled, Jobs Vanishing

If you could bring yourselves to look at the big picture, you might see that the city you claim to love so much is under siege. Thousands upon thousands of businesses have been crippled. Jobs are vanishing at a frightening pace. Both the city and state are hemorrhaging revenues, and enormous budget deficits loom.

Bob Herbert-"The Democrats Fiddle"-New York Times, October 18

Evidence of Newsac

The triumph of the USA Today style newspaper with its emphasis on sports, color pictures, short stories and lightly treated features, is evidence that the news we get is "Newsac," like the elevator music that lulls us into the mainstream mood without any cyhallenging and discordant chords to shake our sensibilities.

Robert N. Minor, Ph.D.-Scared Straight: Why Its So Hard to Accept Gay People And Why Its So Hard to be Human www.fairnessproject.org