“I think everyone sort of understands it might be the last leg of the civil rights movement.”

Actor George Clooney, a gay marriage supporter, speaking in support of LGBT rights in an interview at the Golden Globe Awards, where he won Best Actor. (Politico.com, Jan. 16)

“Let’s save traditional marriage by letting gays marry, because we straight people are f*cking it up.”

— Actress and comedian Aisha Tyler, co-host of the “The Talk” on CBS, in a video for the Human Rights Campaign’s Americans for Marriage Equality project. (HRC.org, Jan. 11)

“We are not going to just lay down, we come to play. Who the hell do you think we are the Dallas Cowgirls or those gaybirds from Philly … No we are the New York Giants.”

—  N.J. Assemblyman Charles Mainor in a post on his Facebook wall while watching football on Sunday. (The Jersey Journal via NJ.com, Jan. 16)

“I have to take full responsibility because it was under my name. I have no excuse, other than me not looking before he did send the post.”

— N.J. Assemblyman Charles Mainor, apologizing for the Facebook post after stating that his friend wrote the part about “gaybirds from Philly.” (The Jersey Journal via NJ.com, Jan. 16)

“I cannot listen to stories about kids killing themselves any longer without thinking, ‘When are you going to have a little blood on your shirt for not being honest about who you are?’”

— Comedian Todd Glass, a veteran of “Last Comic Standing,” coming out in the podcast “WTF.” (Reuters, Jan. 17)

“I have spent my entire life giving back in many different ways, but running for Miss California USA as an openly gay woman has given me the opportunity to represent and give back to a community that I am very much a part of.”

— Mollie Thomas, one of the first two openly gay candidates to compete in the Miss California USA pageant, a precurser to Miss USA. Thomas did not place in the Jan. 8 pageant, but made gay rights her platform issue. (Shewired.com, Jan. 12)

Top photo: Actor George Clooney (Photo by Nicholas Genin/CC 2.)