Quips & Quotes

“I cannot force you to believe what I tell you, so if you choose to continue on with this fighting and arguing, that’s up to you. I did not say God is punishing gays with AIDS, I did not sit with ill intentions in judgment over your lives. I haven’t stopped talking to my friends who are gay, nor have I ever chosen my friends by their sexual preferences. We have too many good memories together to live in this state of unforgiveness. I never denied you or turned you away. … It was never my intention to reject you but to extend myself in love.”

— Donna Summer wrote in a recently released 1989 letter to ACT UP

“Oh! I didn’t know I was a gay icon. I get a lot of mail — but I don’t get many bad letters — but I got a woman the other day that was so upset with me because they said, ‘How do you feel about the gay marriage thing?’ and my answer to that is, ‘I really don’t care with whom you sleep, I just care what kind of a decent human being you are.’ I figure all the rest of it is your business and not mine. And not hers, incidentally.”

— Betty White

“Locally, the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce claims to support certain “gay rights” as long as those rights make money – evidently, it reflects a welcoming business environment for the state of Utah. It seems that a person’s private sexuality is somehow good for business in the heart of Mormondom… Salt Lake City Council was once told that its anti-discrimination ordinances were fair and did ‘not do harm to the institution of marriage.’ And now we see from this appellate decision how wrong that local opinion was. We now can see clearly that any “gay right” is simply a prelude to redefining marriage. Everyone knows where this scenario leads – no part of which includes a welcoming business environment.”

— Sutherland Institute Executive Director Paul Sutherland