"“It all started on an ordinary day, in the most ordinary place in the world.”—Brief Encounter David Lean’s depictions of two ordinary women (Celia Johnson’s Laura and Katharine Hepburn’s Jane) restraining their desires for Trevor Howard and Rosanno Brazzi, respectively, are two of my all-time favorite cinematic portrayals of forbidden heterosexual love. Incidentally, both use the writing of gay playwrights as source material: Brief Encounter is based on Noël Coward’s Still Life, and Summertime adapts Arthur Laurents’s The Time of the Cuckoo."

"London. The swinging ’60s. But not for these broke actors, who have just left drama school. To break the monotony of the phone never ringing, they make the fatal error of leaving London for “a charming weekend in the country.” Gay uncles, disgruntled farmers, terrifying poachers, and lots and lots and lots of alcohol ensue. Hang on for the ride. Richard E. Grant has never been better. Paul McGann plays it straight and anchors the whole thing. The soundtrack is wonderful. Must watch with alcohol."

"It all started on an ordinary day, in the most ordinary place in the world.”—Brief Encounter David Lean’s depictions of two ordinary women (Celia Johnson’s Laura and Katharine Hepburn’s Jane) restraining their desires for Trevor Howard and Rosanno Brazzi, respectively, are two of my all-time favorite cinematic portrayals of forbidden heterosexual love. Incidentally, both use the writing of gay playwrights as source material: Brief Encounter is based on Noël Coward’s Still Life, and Summertime adapts Arthur Laurents’s The Time of the Cuckoo."

"The Kid saved my sanity while I waited for my kid. I’m 32, I’ve had a home visit, I’ve filled out the paperwork, and now I’m waiting and waiting to be picked by a birth mother to adopt her baby. Through it all, I keep on my person a tattered copy of this Dan Savage book. How the story of a white gay couple adopting a baby boy feels like exactly the same journey as a single black woman adopting a baby girl is its magic."

"I had been a rather reluctant punk as a teenager, finding the whole movement too aggressive for a Peterborough gay boy, so this I suppose more commercial offering from Siouxsie was much more up my street - and consequently, as with all my favourite teen angst albums, I learnt all of the songs inside out and backwards. Siouxsie has an incredible voice and was one of my first live concerts, alongside Joe Jackson. We were later to bump into her at Sire Records in NYC but I was too nervous and shy too say 'Hi'."