"My parents, my family and my friends all love me and accept me for who I am, and even if the public are upset by this, I know the love of those people who mean the most to me will never change. I'm not going on a crusade, but I'm proud of who I am. I feel I have achieved everything I could ever possibly have hoped to achieve out of rugby, and I did it being gay. I want to send a positive message to other gay people that they can do it, too."

--UK rugby legend Gareth Thomas in a Dec. 18 coming-out interview with the Daily Mail. Thomas plays for the Cardiff Blues.

"It's been really tough for me hiding who I really am, but I don't want it to be like that for the next young person who wants to play rugby, or some frightened young kid."

--UK rugby legend Gareth Thomas in a Dec. 18 coming-out interview with the Daily Mail. Thomas plays for the Cardiff Blues.

"(When I was closeted) I used to go to the cliffs overlooking the beach near our cottage in St. Brides Major and just think about jumping off and ending it all."

--UK rugby legend Gareth Thomas in a Dec. 18 coming-out interview with the Daily Mail. Thomas plays for the Cardiff Blues.

"This means there's one less barrier for people. When I grew up, there were only a handful of Latino state elected officials and there weren't any openly gay ones. So I never thought I would be in office."

--Incoming California Assembly Speaker John Pérez to the Los Angeles Times, Dec. 21.

"We will not gag ourselves when it comes to gay porn stars, Manhunt profiles, sex clubs, three-way relationships, poppers, or all the other dirty little secrets of gay culture that the khaki-clad HRC clones are afraid 'the straights' will find out about and use against us to continue depriving us of our civil rights. Until they can deal with those things, they will only be tolerating us, not accepting us, so it's better to just get it out in the open now."

--Gawker.com, Dec. 22, after the site was criticized for an item it published about a CNN iReport piece done by gay porn actor Collin O'Neal. See tinyurl.com/gawkprn1 and tinyurl.com/gawkprn2.

"Holiday Airline Madness! Flight to NY cancelled, mad dash to find seats in full planes. Feel like I'm on The Amazing Race. In the bad way."

--Gay actor Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser) in a Dec. 20 tweet.

Gay actor Neil Patrick Harris. GLAAD photo

"Happy Harlem Holidays!! Finally arrived (layover in Vegas -- won $9.50 in slots!), got us a tree, about to trim. Yeah, that kinda trim."

--Gay actor Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser) in a Dec. 21 tweet.

"Tree trimmed. Balls hung. Good times. Lookie: http://yfrog.com/3gnmybj"

--Gay actor Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser) in a Dec. 21 tweet.

"I'm not gay. I grew up singing and dancing, so people have been calling me gay since fifth grade. I've heard everything you could possibly hear about it. But I do love gay people, so I'm not going to act like I was insulted or angry about it."

--Glee star Matthew Morrison, who plays Will Schuester, to Elle, Dec. 18.

 "I have not supported that."

--Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty when asked by Newsweek about "medical benefits for same-sex couples," Dec. 21.

"In 1993 I voted for a bill prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodation, housing and employment. That was 16 years ago. We overbaked that statute, for a couple of reasons. If I had to do it over again I would have changed some things. That statute is not worded the way it should be. I said I regretted the vote later because it included things like cross-dressing, and a variety of other people involved in behaviors that weren't based on sexual orientation, just a preference for the way they dressed and behaved. So it was overly broad. So if you are a third-grade teacher and you are a man and you show up on Monday as Mr. Johnson and you show up on Tuesday as Mrs. Johnson, that is a little confusing to the kids. So I don't like that."

--Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to Newsweek, Dec. 21.

"She (Sarah Palin) is easily as qualified (to be president) as Barack Obama. I would argue she's more qualified in terms of leadership, experience, management and supervision -- actually running something. She was a mayor, head of an energy commission and governor."

--Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to Newsweek, Dec. 21.

Popular gay blogger Joe. My. God. wishes "wingnut lackeys" would stop trying to "friend" him on Facebook. Photo by Rex Wockner

"A dozen or so times this week, wingnut lackeys have attempted to friend me on Facebook, thinking that I won't just look at their friend list and see their connections to Tony Perkins, Harry Bishop, Matt Barber, etc. Dumbasses. Even though my Facebook page has tons of strangers on it, it's very rare that I get a request from somebody who doesn't have at least ten or twenty mutual 'friends' with me. I guess they're trying to catch me saying something on Facebook that they can use against me. Which doesn't make much sense, I can't imagine how I can possibly be more insulting or rude there than I am on this here website thingy. I try, I really try. And why are all these nobodies big-haired women? Seriously, fuck all of you hags."

--Popular gay blogger Joe. My. God. (Joe Jervis), Dec. 18.

"The phrase 'mission accomplished' has gotten a bad rap in recent years, but in this case, it certainly applies. When we set out to establish Lambda Rising in 1974, it was intended as a demonstration of the demand for gay and lesbian literature. We thought if we could show that there was a demand for our literature, that bookstores could be profitable selling it, we could encourage the writing and publishing of GLBT books, and sooner or later other bookstores would put those books on their own shelves and there would be less need for a specifically gay and lesbian bookstore. Today 35 years later, nearly every general bookstore carries GLBT books, often featuring them in special sections. The other part of our mission was to make good GLBT books and information available to anyone anywhere at a time when such items were very hard to find. Today, people almost anywhere can access GLBT information on the Internet."

--Deacon Maccubbin, founder and co-owner of the D.C. and Delaware gay bookstores Lambda Rising, announcing on the stores' Web site that they would be closing at the end of 2009.

If you join HRC now, you'll get a free water bottle. Photo by Rex Wockner

"We face two major challenges in 2010. We must simultaneously combat right-wing groups working against us, while pushing for faster and more meaningful change from Congress and the White House. And it's not going to be easy. From the outrageous lies used to end marriage equality in Maine and California, to the turncoats in the New York Senate who rejected marriage equality, 2009 showed us that we can't expect change to come to us. To put our 2010 game plan into action immediately, we must grow our ranks by 2,010 new members this month. Join HRC right now, and be a part of this movement. If you join as a new member with a gift of $35 or more, we'll send you this water bottle (pictured) as our way of saying thanks."

--The Human Rights Campaign, Dec. 21.