Thursday quotables...

"In Britain I think they find it easier to take it all in. Here in the US they say, ‘He’s black and English and a basketball player and clever and gay …’ It’s all a bit overwhelming. They can only deal with one thing at a time and that one thing now is the gay bit. It’s disappointing, because you spend all that time studying, researching, training, and after all that work I’m just that ‘big gay bloke’.”
- former NBA player John Amaechi on how his sexuality has trumped his other traits in the U.S.

"My stylist is gay and lives in L.A. and when he came to Miami, he went out. And I asked, ‘Your boyfriend doesn’t care?’ And he said, ‘We have an understanding if I’m out of the city.’ When I saw George Michael, he said the same thing…I’m going to have to have a talk with my girl!"
- Enrique Iglesias to July's Genre magazine

"Definitely not. No. I'm straight. I'll scream it out loud."
- "American Idol" runner-up Blake Lewis on speculation about his sexuality

“I hate to think we live in a time when you can get fired from your job because of what you say. [Isaiah Washington] didn’t punch anyone. I think we’ll think differently with hindsight.”
- Bruce Willis to Time magazine