“During the ’50s, when little or nothing honest about gay male and lesbian lives was available culturally, how could a truth teller grab a niche? Not through high culture”

“Once gay power was a joyous cry in this town. Then the thrust toward radicalism died. The stuffed-shirt gay politico appeared. Lethargy set in”

Coming out is a beginning. Marching to Sheep Meadow is a beginning. Dancing our way to liberation is a beginning. But only a part of it.

“They swept up Sixth Avenue, from Sheridan Square to Central Park, astonishing everything in their way... My God, are those really homosexuals? Marching? Up Sixth Avenue?”

“For almost 20 years, Sylvester has been an icon of San Francisco nightlife: outrageous, bold, proud. Today, he is a symbol of a totally different San Fran­cisco — a gay man struggling to stay alive”

“You care, I'm told (although I no longer believe it). I've even heard you called a saint... But saints have imaginations vivid enough to know how to spend $374 million in a dire emergency.”

"Mike's three big Christopher Street operations are Chris­topher's End, when it's open, the Studio Book Store, and Gay Dogs. Mike calls himself a gay catalyst and flesh peddler. He deals in boy-boy sex"

“We homosexuals cannot improve our world for ourselves and for those who follow us — and improving it is a duty we should all feel — if we ban the exploration of our problems.”

"It marks the first time a citizens' protest has been mounted against a film before it's in the can. And it has brought the gay community its most potent or­ganizing tool since the murder of Harvey Milk"

Plus: 'A Diary of Living With AIDS' and 'Remembering Robert — Seven Writers Commemorate a Colleague and Friend'