THE TALK

THE POWER

“You have the power to make things better … You’ve communicated a sense of urgency

BARACK OBAMA that is as powerful and as transformative as anything that I’ve

seen in recent years.”

—President Barack Obama at a virtual town hall last month, on George

Floyd’s death and the following protests.

MY HEART

“Today I joined the hundreds of thousands of families who have lost loved ones to opioid addiction. My son Beckett, who was

just 21, struggled to overcome his addiction and finally MELISSA ETHERIDGE

succumbed to it today. My heart is broken.”

—Singer Melissa Etheridge announcing on Twitter last month that her and filmmaker Julie Cypher’s 21-year-old son Beckett Cypher, died after losing his battle with opioid addiction. RIP.

BEING ERASED

“The history of the LGBTQ community is a history of fighting against invisibility. Without data, we quickly become an invisible community and risk being erased.”

—Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, introducing a bill last month requiring the state to collect data on how the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic affects the LGBTQ community. ANDERSON COOPER MY FAMILY

“I don’t really have a family, so my friends become my family,” Anderson explained. “And this is somebody that I was involved with for 10 years.

He’s a great guy.”

—New dad Anderson Cooper explaining why he will co-parent his son, Wyatt, with his expartner, Benjamin Maisani, in an interview with Howard Stern.

WHO SHE IS

“It was a process for us to sit down with our daughter and find out who she is and what she likes, and not put something on her—because as parents, we put our hopes and our fears on our kids.”

—Retired NBA player Dwyane Wade about raising their 12-year-old transgender daughter Zaya, in an interview with Ellen, last month. DWYANE WADE. PHOTO BY KEITH ALLISON

GEORGE TAKEI. PHOTO BY GAGE SKIDMORE THESE IDIOTS

“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 on getting Trump supporters to following common-sense guidelines for slowing the spread of coronavirus during the global pandemic, on Twitter last month.

ALWAYS THERE

“It’s kind of a reminder that these things are always there festering, and our first step in dealing with it is acknowledging that it’s an actual thing.”

—Out actor BD Wong on the rising racial prejudice taking place during the global pandemic, in an interview with the Advocate last month.