Queer Quotes: On Coming Out and Culture, Love and Lust, Politics and Pride, and Much More

by Teresa Theophano

Book Overview

Queer Quotes is a compendium of wit and wisdom from well-known historical and contemporary cultural figures - from Oscar Wilde to Rita Mae Brown, from Quentin Crisp to Sandra Bernhardt, from James Baldwin to RuPaul. Often amusing, the quotes are also thought-provoking. Included is an index as well as short biographies of all the individuals quoted. This is a wonderful resource and an ideal gift book.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0807079065
• ISBN13: 9780807079065
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Beacon Press (MA)
• Length: 191 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

At a Loss for Words?

Theophano, Teresa. "Queer Quotes: On Coming Out and Culture, Love and Lust, Politics and Pride, and Much, Much More", Beacon Books, 2005. At a Loss for Words? Amos Lassen "Queer Quotes" is a great little book--especially when you need some vocal help in saying something. A queer quote quite simply is a reflection on who we are and how we verbalize it. It is a way of stating what it means to be a member of the GLBT community as well as what it means to be human. We must remember constantly that we are members of a larger world and we need to celebrate who we are. The days of hiding and closets are gone as we saw today with the State of California legalizing gay marriage. The book is a compilation of wisdom and wit from GLBT personages that have historical and/or social standing. Most of the names are familiar--Quentin Crisp (a champion of the "bon mot", Sandra Bernhard ( a comedienne who will say just about anything), James Baldwin ( a literary figure), RuPaul (need I explain?), Radclyffe Hall (noted Lesbian author) and many, many more. The book is a wondetful collection of quotes which is conveniently divided into 16 sections ranging from "Queer History" to "The Arts" to "Political Issues" and it seems everyone who is anyone has something to say. Theophano also gives background information in a biography section that is made up of the 270 speakers of the quotes. There is also an index so that it is easy to find one's way around the book. The quotations deal with all issues of life and are sometimes funny, sometimes philosophical and they make us laugh and they make us think and thinking is what literature is about.

It's Utterly, Joyously, and Quotably Queer!

QUEER QUOTES: ON COMING OUT AND CULTURE, LOVE AND LUST, POLITICS AND PRIDE, AND MUCH MORE, edited by Teresa Theophano, is a delightful collection of GLBT-related quotations. Divided into 16 topics, including "All Things Queer," "Naming Ourselves," and "Queer History," with quotes range from the touching to the bitingly funny, with some healthy stops along that way that prompt a reader to think. However, all the quotes have a positive slant. Theophano in her introduction explains that she has "avoided including sound bites from homophobes. We already know what the Trent Lotts, Jerry Falwells, and Fred Phelps of the world think of GLBT issues. ...Let's be utterly, joyously, and quotably queer!" (10). On the currently timely topic of "Love and (Gay) Marriage," Liz Langley states "Gay marriage should be legal if just to raise the standard of dancing at receptions" (29). Political issues are the focus of "Out of the Closets, Into the Streets" with this from Barbara Grier: "It is the closet that is our sin and our shame." (81) And a chilling quote from Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the US, reads, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door" (77). Milk was assassinated in 1978. In "the Arts" there are a number of humorous entries as well as two quotes for the queer bibliophiles from Dorothy Allison and Nancy Garden, respectively: "If I'd taken up with a gospel band or rock and roll, I'd make a whole lot more sense to my family. But to write books. ...I'd come home with books and they'd stare at me like I was crazy. That was the thing most queer about me" (37). "[Radclyffe Hall's THE WELL OF LONELINESS] became my bible. I read it and reread it over and over again. And I vowed at that point that I was going to write a gay book that ended happily, a book about my people" (40). The author of dozens of award-winning children's and teens' books, Garden wrote ANNIE ON MY MIND, originally released in 1982, a groundbreaking novel concerning love been between two high school girls. Theophano has included a biography section for the over 270 speakers quoted. This handy appendix provides brief biographical summaries, frequently listing best known titles if the person is an author, and an explanation of their notability. This section is particularly useful given the broad range of personalities quoted -- from Sophocles and Oscar Wilde to Melissa Etheridge and Calpernia Addams. Regretfully, not all these entries include a year of birth (or death). There appeared to be a few minor errors and the reader should cross-check the biographic information if using it for more than casual reference. (For example Rita Mae Brown's groundbreaking novel, RUBYFRUIT JUNGLE, is listed as originally released in 1983 rather than 1973). This reviewer would have liked the biographical data to have included the names of some long-term relationships, especially when the partners also appear in the volume a

Funny and thorough

The quotations in this book range from the supportive to the philosophical to the hilarious to the critical. I enjoyed the diversity of the quotations. There are enough good ones to make you laugh and enough great ones to make you think. Teresa Theophano did a good job with her selections and arrangements.