"What an incredible worldwide treasure Elton John continues to be! ... He uses his fame and popularity to be one of the best gay activists gay people have ever had. I will never forget the wonderful things he did for me when I had my liver transplant in 2001. I had never met the man. A phone rang in my room at Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. 'Hi, Larry, this is Elton. How you doing?' I was in Pittsburgh for six months of recovery. Every single week a gorgeous bouquet of flowers was delivered to where my partner and I were staying." — Veteran activist Larry Kramer in a Feb. 18 e-mail.

"I'm having a bit of a mid-life crisis with ( my beard ) . I'm growing it some more, but at 46, there's a big white patch right down the front and some white side-burns at the side. Aaron thinks it's hot; and all the twinks seem to love it. But I'm just not ready for the Santa look quite yet. So I've been dabbing some Just For Men on the white bits—not totally, just dabs, to take the edge off—and, after consulting various online beardologists, I'm using a color much lighter than my natural hue. Only my cattier acquaintances have noticed. And you know who you are. My excuse is that I'm bald already so I get a pass on the greybeard thing in my 40s." — Gay writer Andrew Sullivan on his blog Feb. 4.

"Anderson ( Cooper ) has been white for almost as long as I've known him ( ah, the Washington YMCA in the 1980s! ) , but he's so cute he can get away with anything. Brad Pitt's gray streak in what has to be admitted is a quite nasty little straggler is also offset by preternatural beauty. So I guess this ( my use of Just For Men ) is a kind of pre-emptive confession to make myself feel better about it." — Gay writer Andrew Sullivan on his blog Feb. 4.

—Assistance: Bill Kelley