“While the President does not weigh in on every single ballot measure in every state, the record is clear that the President has long opposed divisive and discriminatory efforts to deny rights and benefits to same sex couples.”

— Kristen Sosanie, spokesperson for President Barack Obama’s Minnesota campaign, on why he opposes a ballot initiative to ban gay marriage in the state. The measure “would single out and discriminate against gay and lesbian couples,” she said. (Huffington Post, April 9)

“Happy Easter, Gay People of the World: you have indeed risen in the last decades from centuries of persecution and oppression. May this be a great holiday for you all wherever you are. You are winning the battle for equal rights. And your victory over discrimination and hate is a victory for all oppressed persons.”

— Author Anne Rice, whose son is gay, posting on her Facebook page (On Top Magazine, April 9)

"Jesus is not a homophobe."

— Slogan on the t-shirt that Maverick Couch, age 16, will get to wear to school on April 20, the Day of Silence to protest anti-LGBT bullying, after suing his southwest Ohio public school. (Associated Press, April 5)

“I loved it when someone said to me, ‘Stephanie, what exactly did you think was going to turn men off about this? Because a lot of people told me, ‘Your ratings have only gone up.’ Because, you know, you say ‘gay,’ they hear ‘three-way.’”

— Radio show host Stephanie Miller, who came out in 2010, on how fears that knowing she was a lesbian would hurt her high ratings with straight male listeners didn’t exactly pan out. (AfterEllen.com, April 6)

“The perception in our society today is that if you don’t say you’re for same-sex marriage or if you say that homosexuality is a sin that you’re homophobic and you’re not for gay people. That’s not true... It doesn’t mean I have to agree with you to love you. I think that sex between two people of the same-sex is condemned in the Scriptures.”

— Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of the Potter’s House, a Dallas mega-church, in an April 8 interview with Oprah Winfrey (Gawker.com via Instinct, April 9)