‘Lady Gaga is an active promoter of the LGTB community; a community we foster. As previously underscored by [Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton, gay and human rights are one and the same. I am proud that an Italian-American artist is coming to Rome. We look to the event with interest.”

— David Thorne, U.S. Ambassador to Rome, on news that Lady Gaga will perform June 11 at EuroPride, the continent’s largest LGBT pride event. (Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, June 6)

“Some people say you fight fire with fire: no, you fight fire with water, not with fire. We will put out the blind hatreds of sectarianism not with sectarianism of our own but with love and with solidarity.”

— American-Syrian freedom activist Amina Araf, who wrote the blog ‘A Gay Girl in Damascus’ under the name Amina Abdallah, in a post on Sunday, June 5. On Monday, someone claiming to be Araf’s cousin wrote on the blog that she had been kidnapped by armed men in the Syrian capital. (MSNBC, June 7)

“I want them to basically believe in the Constitution of the United States of America, so, yep, I don’t have a problem with appointing an openly gay person.”

— Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, a radio personality and retired businessman from Georgia, when asked if he would appoint a gay person to a White House position.  (Des Moines Register, June 7)

“I mean, really: He called me 33 percent lesbian, which was a gross underestimation of my lesbian-ness.”

— Actress Reese Witherspoon, responding to ‘Twilight’ actor Robert Pattinson’s comments as she received the Generation Award at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards. Witherspoon rated herself as “at least” 55 percent. (MTV News, June 6)

“We are proud of dedicated Red Sox fans like 12-year-old Sam Maden who have taken the courageous step of publicly standing up against bullying of LGBT youth.”

—A statement from Boston Red Sox spokesperson Leah Tobin, announcing the professional baseball team will make an “It Gets Better” video to fight bullying after young fan Sam Maden started an online petition urging the team to participate. (Boston Globe, June 4)

Top photo: Mike Ivins, Boston Red Sox