I Didn't Say It ....

Harvey Fierstein, on Orson Scott Card, writer of Ender's Game:

"The quotes that got me about him weren’t against gay marriage -- he wanted homosexuality criminalized in the United States. That's what he called for. You want me to be tolerant of you wanting to criminalize homosexuality? F--k you on your grave, you piece of s--t."

I loathe the so-called Christians who want me to tolerate their faith while they use their faith to have me declared a criminal for my sexual orientation.

The fact is that Orson Scott Card and his ilk chose their faith; I was born this way.

Johnny Weir, on the suggested boycott of the Winter Olympics in Russia because of their anti-LGBT stance:

"To have a boycott would not only negate the career of some athletes who have only one chance at competing at the Games, but also the over-time shifts an exhausted father takes to make ends meet, or the social acclimatization of a brother who can’t go on spring break because his brother needed another costume, or the mother who works part-time at a job far beneath her, just so she can afford to watch her first born perform for the world. The Olympics are not a political statement, they are a place to let the world shine in peace and let them marvel at their youthful talents. ... I respect the LGBT community full heartedly, but I implore the world not to boycott the Olympic Games because of Russia’s stance on LGBT rights or lack thereof. I beg the gay athletes not to forget their missions and fight for a chance to dazzle the world."

I’m on Team Johnny here.

I want our LGBT athletes, and LGBT ally athletes to go to the games and stand up for the LGBT community and against Putin’s homophobic, intolerant, and even deadly, policies.

Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop and social rights activist, on refusing entrance to Heaven if God is a homophobe: 

"I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place. I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this."

So many folks got their robes in a snit over this quote, but to me, what Tutu is saying is that God isn’t homophobia, and if she was, Tutu might choose a different after-life.

Blake Skjellerup, out speed skater, on the suggested boycott of the Winter Olympics in Russia because of their anti-LGBT stance: 

“For me it’s less about taking a stand and more about just being myself...I have no interest in going back into the closet in Sochi...This is not about defiance. This is me standing up for what I believe in.”

And, as I said, standing up against Putin’s Russia.

John Barrowman, on the vicious hostility he experienced after the announcement of his wedding:

"I don't get it. Some of the comments were outrageously vile. Quoting lines from the Bible. I won't tolerate it. People like that are banned on my Twitter account. I tell them to f**k off...People have a right to their beliefs but it doesn't mean they have to be nasty and deny other people their human rights. The world is not going to change and fall apart because a gay couple got married."

It’s love, people.

It’s a man who found the person with whom he chooses to be married and if you can’t be happy for people in love then you just can’t ever be happy.

Harvey Fierstein, on the suggested boycott of the Winter Olympics in Russia because of their anti-LGBT stance:

"You can’t get them through a U.N. sanction: 'Oh boy, the U.S. is mad at me. I’m shaking all the f--k over.' There’s only one way and that's in the pocketbook. You hurt them in the pocketbook, they shut the f--k up and back the f--k down. ... And Olympic athletes, I understand: You’ve worked your asses off for this for years, but there are still bigger things than you hanging something around your neck. There are bigger things in this world."

I usually agree with Harvey, but I think if we stay away, it’ll just be like the time we boycotted the Moscow Olympics because of something Russia did.

Remember that? Not many folks do; and about the only thing that came of that boycott was that Russia boycotted the LA Olympics in America after that.

Go. Stand tall. Stand proud. Stand out.

Sharon Osbourne, on Justin Bieber:

“I feel really bad for him. There’s this little kid with a huge dream, he’s cute, girls love him, and he wants to be a mean boy, and he’s about as mean as a fuckin’ kitten, and he’s trying to act out. It’s like pissing in a bucket. It’s like, “Oh, we’re the bad boys!” Fuck off! You don’t know what bad is. And I think that he’s lost, I really do. And, at the point he’s at in his career, it’s so dangerous because we’ve seen it all before a million times. Where do you go when you’re a child entertainer and then you want to transition to be a man? Very few make it.”

Sing it, Sharon.

Christian Vincent, out gay Danish actor, on why the struggle for LGBT rights in Russia and around the world matters: 
"I am privileged enough to be able to say [that I'm gay] openly, even publicly without any consequences. This is not something I need to do or something I have to do but I have the right to do it. The value of this right is not to be underestimated. The value of this right is not to be taken for granted. The absence of this right is lethal. If you are one of those who are, as myself, lucky enough to have this right, I merely ask of you to use it. Our brothers and sisters in Russia among many other places need our voice and our support now more than ever...Awareness has started and awareness is hope. And hope is never silent. So I ask of you once again, tell the world it's not okay."

Word.
I hope Russia gets the message.