“It just bothers me that in 2011 this is still an issue — that you cannot marry the people you want to marry in some states; it just drives me nuts.”

— Gayle King, gal pal of Oprah Winfrey, in an interview at the Oct. 23 New York wedding of gay couple Bill White and Bryan Eure (New York Times, Oct. 23)

“When you see a beautiful woman, what do you feel?” Wayne replied, “It’s like when you look at a beautiful horse. You can appreciate it, but you don’t want to sleep with it. You appreciate beauty for what it is.”

—Conversation between Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and friend Ron Wayne, as Wayne came out to Jobs in 1974 when the two worked at Atari. Wayne was the first gay man that Jobs, who died earlier this month, had ever met. The discussion is recounted in the new Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. (Towleroad.com, Oct. 24)

“Will you be asking all of the handsome actors I’ve ever had the privilege of working with or meeting if I made passes at them as well? … Or, Mr. GQ writer, were you projecting your own unprofessional desires onto me and Gus? … Or worse still, are you a homophobe?”

— Gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, reacting to an interview in GQ Australia that asked actor Taylor Lautner (inset) if Black and gay director Gus Van Sant hit on him when the three recently had dinner. (ABCnews.com, Oct. 21)

“October 20th … has become a day when people all over the world wear purple to show support for LGBT people and speak out against the bullying of LGBT teens. … This year, the White House is going purple on Facebook, as well.”

— Entry on the official White House blog, explaining why portions of the White House website and Facebook were purple on Oct. 20. The blog also included President Obama’s “It Gets Better” video. (WhiteHouse.gov, Oct. 20)