Quips & Quotes
“The South has quite a conservative history. I’ve found that, even though it’s politically conservative, it’s not as hostilely aggressive toward members of diverse communities. And that leads me to believe that there is a window of opportunity to educate not only lawmakers but the public at large about some of the discrimination that takes place against the gay community.”
– Former Utah Rep. Christine Johnson, talking to Free Times, a South Carolina newspaper, about the strategy she will now use as Executive Director of Equality South Carolina.
“So, a high-ranking official went to anti-gay coalition meeting. And, the President-Prophet sent a letter to be read at all Mormon churches. But, that doesn’t count.”
– Blogger Joe Sudbay posting on John Aravosis’ AMERICAblog, on the LDS Church’s insistence that it did not play a part in trying to stop Argentina from legalizing same-sex marriage.
“I decided not to lie in the interview, but I didn’t verify whether or not my relationship was sexual—I refused to give that information because I didn’t feel that was any of [their] business and I [had] talked to my bishop about it.”
– Gay former BYU student John Kovalenko, talking to City Weekly about the treatment of gay and lesbian students under the school’s revamped honor code.
“[Gays and lesbians] are not being repressed, discriminated against. There is no and never has ever been a homosexual man hunt for them. Jews, Christians, and Blacks were hunted down and murdered. Homosexuals have nothing in common with the three.”
– An administrator for the National Organization for Marriage, an anti-gay group purportedly backed by the LDS Church, in a now deleted post to that group’s Facebook page.
“If the federal government could reject polygamy then [in 1878] as a means of promoting the general welfare, why can’t it block attempts to redefine marriage now? If marriage is redefined by courts, what is to stop anyone from declaring a ‘right’ to any relationship they wish to enter and demanding ‘equal protection’ under the Constitution?”
– Syndicated conservative columnist Cal Thomas, mentioning the U.S. Supreme Court case Reynolds v. United States (which addressed polygamy in Utah) as a justification for the Defense of Marriage Act.