October 15th, 1997 to October 21st, 1997

"Due to adult content, parental discretion is advised." - The ABC warning for Ellen's show that had a kiss between two women friends.

"I never wanted to be an activist, but now they're turning me into one." - Ellen DeGeneres to TV Guide. She accused ABC of censorship for placing a warning about "adult content" before the Oct. 8 Ellen episode, in which she jokingly kisses co-star Joely Fisher. The show also had a TV-14 rating. Never mind that the 8:30 p.m. show had few things to worry about-and that 7 p.m.'s ABC show Spin City was filled with [heterosexual] casual sex.
"It's literally a two-second kiss. I asked an editor to time it so I would know what I'm talking about here. It's a kiss like you would kiss a friend or your mother. It's two women kissing on the lips-but it's a two-second kiss. First of all, it's been done before. I'm not breaking any new ground-there have been kisses on television. And, it's just so nothing. It was so offensive to me that they're saying you can't show that. ... It's hurtful to me because it's basically pushing me back in the closet and saying, 'We don't want to know that you're a sexual being.' " - DeGeneres to The Los Angeles Times, Sept. 24.
"If you say, 'Don't watch a show that has gay people on it,' who's to say they won't one day say, 'Don't watch a show that has black people on it, or Jews?' " - Ellen DeGeneres.
"No One knows what we have together, no one. Now this is it for me, forever. ... Anne's taken a lot of flack for what she's done, but in 25 or 30 years, when we're still together and out of this business, we can look back and laugh. Maybe it's a horrible thing to say, but Anne and I both had the same reaction when Princess Di died, that she had just found the man of her dreams and then she died, and how could you go on living after that without that person? If Anne goes, I want to go, that's how strongly I feel." - Ellen on girlfriend Anne Heche, to TV Guide.

"Tom is so big and so manly, he could, you know, just grab me. I was like Vivien Leigh to his Clark Gable." - Kevin Kline to Entertainment Weekly on his kissing scene with Tom Selleck in In & Out.

"I act gay, I look gay, I move gay. There are times when I'm playing [NewsRadio's] Matthew that I know I'm doing my mom. ... I mean, I have been with men. I like sex. I like beautiful people, men and women. And I'm not ashamed of it. Besides, a lot of women love that because they like to see a man in touch with his feminine side-to be able to be with men and not be embarrassed about it." - Andy Dick. He also confirmed the bisexual rumors on Entertainment Tonight, adding that he lives with his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend, and the three children he's had with the two women. And they all get along happily in their "alternative" family, with each person also seeing other people.
"I have a hard time being objective about Ellen. I feel for her, but I'm jealous of all the media attention she's getting." - Scott Thompson who was openly gay on Kids In The Hall long before DeGeneres came out, to the Canada's FAB, Fall 1997.
"To straight society, gay males represent fear and the spectre of AIDS. The media will never embrace us the way they do lesbians because, for the most part, straight white males are turned on by the thought of two women having sex together. There won't be a male counterpart of Ellen until gay men and the public's perception of them evolves." - Thompson.
"I think I expose the truth about gay men, and nobody wants to see that. The last fifteen years have driven gay men crazy. We're all wounded. We've had to deal with too much pain and self- loathing and so most of us don't want the truth. Most gay men want a lie. They want Tom Hanks portraying them. They want masculine, straight men representing them. I don't think they can deal with their feminine side. That's why nobody wants [my character] Buddy Cole [an alcoholic bar fag] as an icon. Gay men want role models that show only a positive image." - Thompson.
"I don't know the woman. I'm a fan of hers and hope she takes it in the right spirit. And if she doesn't, I don't want to be in the same room with her." - Director Frank Oz on references to Barbra Streisand in the movie In & Out, to Outlines, Sept. 17.
"I'm very flattered. ... I can't wait to see it!" - Babs to columnist Liz Smith, Sept. 20.
"Political correctness is the death of comedy. There's so much in the gay past that's worth treasuring. Now we have this wave of neo-conservative finger pointing, creating shame and saying it's no longer okay to be some of the things that defined us. Effeminacy, a style of wit-I mean, a caftan-minded person is shunned, cast out and called an Uncle Tom. And that's not right. The point of civil rights is freedom, not just a new conformity. Sometimes it seems like the modern gay person is supposed to be without manners or humor. That's a shame. That's a bore." - In & Out writer Paul Rudnick to San Francisco's Bay Times, Sept. 18 issue.
"I have done it once and I think that's enough. It would be too upsetting for me, it would stir too many memories [to ever sing the song again]. People will go out and buy the single, and I think to milk it any more would be in bad taste. ... I am not singing the [old] Marilyn Monroe lyrics [ever again either]. I think the two are so closely linked it would be difficult to perform it." - Gay rocker Elton John to Britain's ITV Sept. 27, in reference to his song "Candle in the Wind," which he rewrote and performed at Princess Diana's funeral.
"Because marriage is a basic human right and an individual personal choice, RESOLVED, the State should not interfere with same-gender couples who choose to marry and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities, and commitment of civil marriage." - Statement being signed by supporters of same-sex marriage in Hawaii, a project coordinated by the Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund Marriage Project (212) 809-0055). Coretta Scott King is among the most recent dignitaries to sign the resolution. Other signers: Bea Arthur, Beck, Judith Light, Luscious Jackson, Bonnie Raitt, and Bishop Walter Righter.
"Indifference or neutrality toward the homosexual rights movement will result in society's destruction by allowing civil order to be redefined and by plummeting ourselves, our children and grandchildren into an age of godlessness." - From an American Family Association press release promoting "National Coming Out Of Homosexuality Day," which coincides with Coming Out Day, Oct. 11.

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