Last Word
Notable quote from this week's GLBT-related newsmakers
”You would need a magnifying glass to see any real or substantive differences between the three candidates.”
— Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda, discussing the leading Democratic presidential candidates’ positions on GLBT issues. (New York Times)
”It’s ironic that Sen. John McCain is using the same tactics that George Bush used against him in 2000; surreptitiously trying to exploit anti-gay prejudice for votes.”
— Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, commenting on an automated phone-call campaign conducted ahead of the Florida Republican presidential primary on McCain’s behalf, criticizing candidate Mitt Romney for past promises to the gay community. (HuffingtonPost.com)
”One of the myths about the 2008 election is that the evangelical vote is splintering over issues such as abortion and homosexuality.”
— David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, whose Christian-advocacy marketing and research firm recently polled evangelical voters, 75 percent of whom rated ”homosexual activists” and ”homosexual lifestyles” as major problems, compared to the 35 percent of all Americans. (Baptist Press)
”It’s wonderful to be in a high-profile position, and to be in it as you are.”
— E. Denise Simmons, the recently elected mayor of Cambridge, Mass., the country’s first openly lesbian, African-American mayor. (EDGE Boston)
”This type of legislation is acceptable if we want to turn Jerusalem into another Tehran, not if it is the capital of secular Jews as well.”
— Mordechai Kremnitzer, an Israeli law professor, speaking before a Knesset committee looking at a bill allowing the Jerusalem Municipal Council to ban gay parades or rallies. A legislator supporting the bill, Nissim Zeev, used the debate to liken homosexuality to a plague like ”bird flu.” (Ynetnews.com)
”They are few in number, but sometimes it is the few in number who need the most protection.”
— Craig Lowe, a Gainesville, Fla., city commissioner, arguing in favor of a measure to protect transgender residents there from discrimination, while other commissioners argued the bill amounted to ”special rights” before the standing-room-only public hearing Jan. 28, which saw one member of the audience yelling that trans advocates have ”blood on [their] hands.” (Gainesville Sun)
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