Last Word

People Say the Queerest Things

Compiled by Rhuaridh Marr

His dedication to advancing LGBTQ equality, even when it was unpopular to do so, has pushed our country and our movement forward.

—HRC President ALPHONSO DAVID, endorsing former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. David said Biden is “the leader our community and our country need at this moment,” and contrasted him with Donald Trump by saying Biden would be a president “who stands up for all of us.”

I think it shows how everything and nothing has changed in the industry, and that the abuse of power, unfortunately, is pertinent.

—JAKE PICKING, who portrays gay actor Rock Hudson in Netflix’s Hollywood, a retelling of the Golden Age of cinema centered on women, LGBTQ people, and people of color, to The Advocate about the treatment Hudson endured. Picking noted that Hudson’s agent required that any “signs of femininity had to be [eradicated]. His wrist was slapped, hips straightened this way, never cross your legs, fix your teeth, lower voice, all this stuff.”

I’m starting a rumor on the Breitbart chats that Covid-19 turns you gay. That should keep a lot of these idiots at home.

—Actor GEORGE TAKEI, writing on Twitter in the wake of a number of armed protests across the country against coronavirus-related stay-at-home orders. Takei’s comments were noted by far-right website Breitbart, which caters to alt-right views and conspiracy theories, with the site publishing a warning to readers about Takei’s comments, lest they believe that COVID-19 does indeed cause homosexuality.

People are fucking dying left and right and the gays are having full on house parties on a Monday night in NYC.

—Comedian, writer, and advocate PHILLIP HENRY, in a tweet sharing footage from Instagram apparently showing a private gay circuit party in New York City on May 4. The party was heavily criticized on social media, particularly given that New York City is the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, with over 13,700 confirmed deaths due to the virus as of May 5.

One hundred years ago, everybody would have considered it to be absurd to speak of a homosexual marriage. Today, one is being excommunicated by society if one opposes it.

—FORMER POPE, POPE BENEDICT XVI, speaking in new authorized biography Benedict XVI: The Biography: Volume One about same-sex marriage. Benedict XVI suggested same-sex marriage came from the “antichrist,” and that “it really needs the help of prayers on the part of an entire diocese and of the Universal Church in order to resist it.”