“If him hanging out with his bros means he’s gay, it’s like further perpetuating that weird homophobia that exists in our culture, which is just stupid. So, yeah, he’s my buddy. I f--kin’ love the guy.”

— Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, addressing gay rumors surrounding his friend, actor Jake Gyllenhaal (E! Online, Sept. 24)

”I want to serve my country. I have loved being in the military … Wounded people never asked me about my sexual orientation. They were just glad to see me there.”

— Former Air Force Reserve Maj. Margaret Witt, a flight nurse, after a federal judge ruled Sept. 24 that she must be reinstated after being discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” (AP, Sept. 25)

“One of the reasons I was interested in exploring this character is we don’t often see a guy my age gay on television, explored in an intelligent, dignified, funny, serious way. So I thought, when David approached me with it three years ago and said, what if Saul’s gay? I said, bring it on.”

— Actor Ron Rifkin on Uncle Saul, the older, newly out, HIV-positive man he plays on the ABC series “Brother and Sisters,” which premiered its new season last week. (Advocate.com, Sept. 23)

“All women are lesbians except those that don’t know it yet.”

—Lesbian feminist writer and cultural critic Jill Johnston, author of “Lesbian Nation,” during a 1971 debate over feminism. Johnston died Sept. 18 at age 81. (New York Times, Sept. 21)

“Although it has been nearly 30 years since the first reported cases of HIV among gay and bisexual men, HIV remains a crisis that is far from over in this community.”

— Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, on a new federal study that shows 1 in 5 gay men have HIV, and half are unaware of their status. (CNN.com, Sept. 25)

Top photo: Actor Jake Gyllenhaal (via Facebook)