Bill Maher: Advocate's Person of the Year

Even if it means my story on gay bloggers got pushed inside, I'm happy to see that The Advocate (where I am a contributing writer) has named Bill Maher as its person of the year and placed him on the cover of its upcoming year-end issue. He is outspoken and smart and I'm always interested in what he has to say about practically anything. I wish we had some politicians that had as much common sense and were able to articulate it as well as Bill Maher.
Here are some excerpts from the article on the host of HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher" written by HeathCliff Rothman:
His pro-gay statements include: "Stop calling homosexuality an unnatural act," ripping Democrats by saying "their refusal to endorse gay marriage is a hypocrisy" and then there's this one:"The only thing abominable about being gay is the amount of time you put in at the gyum. No, in America, when a man puts something in another man, it had better be a bullet."

Maher says of his empathy came from his folks: "My parents were big on the civil rights movement, and [they talked] to me about President Kennedy's forcing the issue about civil rights, which had a big impact on me. So, the empathy wasn't that big a leap. Either we're all free equally, or none of us are free."

On being outspoken on gay rights: "I get called "courageous" a lot. When I hear courage, I think "This isn't really courage, dismantling a roadside bomb is courage." This isn't courage. It's just the right thing to do."

On same-sex marriage: "I think I feel for this issue as someone who has always crusaded for legalization of drugs, especially marijuana, and was always told, 'What do you care if it's legal? You can always step outside the restaurant and take a hit.' It's like Democrats saying to gay people, 'What do you care? You can still live together, we're not stopping you, we're not breaking into your bedroom.' My answer to both was, 'Fuck you. YOU step outside and drink brandy after dinner. YOU call what's under your roof a civil union.' We're all equal, or we're not."

On his gaydar: "Terrible! When I was about 24 years old [and] a young comic in New York, I did a set one night at the Improv. I come off-stage, sit at the bar, and this guy in the show room, he says to me, 'Hey that was funny.' And we're talking and I tell him I'm going to another club, and he says, 'Can I come and watch?' 'Yeah, sure.' So we go over to the other club, I do a set. So after, he's talking to me, and the third time he mentions homosexuality, I think to myself, 'Hey, I must be on a date.'"