"Our (gay) leaders are no longer 'the community.' With the advent of the Internet and modern communications, we are all (the Human Rights Campaign). Pam Spaulding is HRC. Mike Signorile is HRC. Dan Savage is HRC. Joe Jervis is HRC. Jeremy Hooper is HRC. Andy Towle is HRC. The 'Join the Impact' kids are HRC. And even Rachel Maddow is HRC. Our national organizations no longer have a monopoly on message or activism. And while the Obama administration and the DNC continue to control many of our leaders, our people become more angered by the day. ... We have shown with this blog, and our new generation of gay leaders across the country have proven with their successful activism that those who would stand in the way of our human rights cannot keep us silent by simply buying off our leaders that they cannot forestall bad press and the increasing ire of a core Democratic constituency by simply keeping our traditional groups and our representatives in Congress at bay."
--AMERICAblog's John Aravosis, Jan. 9.

"Not only am I a single mother who's pregnant but I'm also a lesbian mother who is pregnant and having a baby for two gay men. That might be startling to some."
--Utah state Rep. Christine Johnson, D-Salt Lake City, to the Salt Lake Tribune Jan. 8 on being impregnated by a gay-male couple she is close friends with.

"We do not expect to win at the trial level, but with God's help, at least five members of the current (U.S.) Supreme Court will have the courage to defend our Constitution from this grave attack."
--National Organization for Marriage Executive Director Brian Brown in a Jan. 8 letter to supporters about the ongoing federal trial in San Francisco over Proposition 8. The case, featuring superstar attorneys Ted Olson and David Boies, could lead to legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide.

"Being the first sucks. I'd rather not be the first, but someone has to be first or among the first. I think I'm experienced and very well qualified to deal with anything that might show up because I've broken barriers at lots of other places and I always win people over with who I am and what I can do."
--Amanda Simpson, America's first openly transgender presidential appointee, to ABC News, Jan. 5. As senior technical adviser in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, Simpson will monitor the export of U.S. weapons technology.

"Efforts to promote 'transgenderism' in public policy deconstruct one of the most fundamental concepts known to mankind. It renders gender, the most basic organization of social systems, completely meaningless. In doing so, activists like Simpson are asking the rest of society to radically reorder the ways in which the culture makes reasonable and rational accommodation for the two genders."
--Focus on the Family spokeswoman Monica Schleicher objecting Jan. 5 to President Barack Obama's appointment of Amanda Simpson as senior technical adviser in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, where she will monitor the export of U.S. weapons technology.

"I appreciated getting a personal phone call from the president of the United States (on my election night). Now, it is a little embarrassing that I didn't actually answer the phone call. But now I have really cool voice mail. And I'm doing my best not to erase it from my cell phone."
--Houston's new lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, speaking to supporters in Houston on Jan. 3.

"Even more important than the phone call from the president -- and he offered nice, warm congratulations -- is the calls that I have received from GLBT media outlets all around the world. From the Basque Country of Spain, from Melbourne, from Japan, from all over Europe, from several countries in Central America and South America -- wanting to share with their viewers, their listeners, my election and what it might mean for them. We are blessed to live in the United States of America. Never forget that we are blessed to be Americans. And even though we often feel that our lot is not fair, that we are frustrated at the pace of change, that there is so much more we want to achieve, and even though sometimes we hang our heads after another referendum battle on marriage -- we may lose battles, we will win the war."
--Houston's new lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, speaking to supporters in Houston on Jan. 3.

"There are too many (gay people) in the world who don't worry about referendum battles, they worry about their lives. They worry about being murdered on the streets or murdered officially in the prisons, with or without judicial sanction. There are too many people in the world who don't have the privileges that we have, and if by my election and the media coverage and the dialogue around that, we can change one person's life in one of those countries, it would make everything worth it."
--Houston's new lesbian mayor, Annise Parker, speaking to supporters in Houston on Jan. 3.

"I have been so grateful for the opportunity in the national and international media to talk about Houston. Now, there was a split in the media. About half of the guys who talk to me ... said, 'Houston elected a lesbian mayor!' and the other half said, 'Houston did that?'"
--Houston Mayor Annise Parker speaking to supporters in Houston on Jan. 3.

"As a straight man I really have nothing to gain by standing up for equal rights for Gays, Lesbians, Bisexual, and/or my Transgender friends. Except for the fact that I have many friends who are still subjected to hurtful comments by a society that hasn't yet embraced fully the nature of... nature. Supporting a limiting system of rules for specific people to follow is prejudice. It's the Antithesis of Christ Consciousness and (like smoking) it's soooo last century. Allowing love to freely flourish will only enhance the life experience -- For All."
--Top-10 pop singer Jason Mraz on his blog, Dec. 31.

"To learn more about how you can be a part of the Epic Movement for Equal Rights. Visit The Human Rights Campaign at http://www.hrc.org/ and support the True Colors Fund. This Year I Resolve to Join the Conversation on Equality. I will Stand Up and be outspoken about Same Sex Marriage and Let Freedom Sing."
--Top-10 pop singer Jason Mraz on his blog, Dec. 31.

"(In) the Naughty Aughties ... even celebrities -- who'd long built up a wall of privacy by hiding behind lying publicists -- couldn't help Tweeting their every thought, caught up in the universal need to connect, to emit, to admit, and to bore."
--Gay Village Voice columnist Michael Musto, Dec. 29.

"When you give it (drugs) up, you tend to think that because you have, everybody else has given up, (but) of course it's just as prevalent as it ever was. And nowadays, you know, pills are just even more damaging -- downers, I mean. I've been helping Eminem in the last 18 months and he is doing brilliantly. I'm there if people want my help. If people ask you for help you tell them where to go, but there is no point inviting someone if they don't want to do it."
--Elton John to BBC Radio 5 Live, Jan. 2.

"The requirement to ensure equality for same-sex couples, established by the New Jersey Supreme Court in its decision in our marriage lawsuit in 2006, has not been met. There is enormous, heartbreaking evidence that civil unions are not equal to marriage and we will be going back to the courts in New Jersey to fight for equality. Too many families are at risk. We cannot wait any longer."
--Lambda Legal Executive Director Kevin Cathcart on Jan. 7 after the New Jersey Senate voted 20-14 not to legalize same-sex marriage.

"As the trial on the federal lawsuit challenging Proposition 8 is set to begin ... we are reminded of the devastation Prop 8 has inflicted upon same-sex couples and their families. Anti-gay extremists targeted a minority group, stripped away a precious freedom and relegated lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans to second-class status with a divisive agenda built on fear-mongering and a blatant disregard for the truth. ... Once again, we call on the Obama administration to join Equality California and others in urging the federal courts to strike down this grossly unjust law. (Visit) http://www.eqca.org/Obama."
--Equality California Executive Director Geoff Kors, Jan. 7.

"After Amanda Simpson became the first transgender presidential appointee ... talk show host David Letterman announced Simpson's appointment on his show and aired a photo of her. The show's announcer, Alan Kalter, then reacted to the news with disgust and mock horror, saying: 'What? Amanda used to be a dude? My God!' He hurried off stage to laughter from the audience, apparently to go collect himself after the shock of this discovery. ... By promoting unfair and cruel reactions to transgender people, the David Letterman Show is feeding an epidemic of discrimination and violence that currently faces transgender Americans."
--The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Jan. 6.