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2023: The Year in Review, Part 2 


By Nancy Ford

When we last met, we took a look back at some of the best, worst, funniest, scariest and generally most noteworthy episodes of the first six months of the very bizarre year that was 2023. Though it doesn’t seem possible, the second six months were even more bizarre; Kitara Ravache, we’re looking at you. 

As yet another year closes, I pledge during this coming year to hug my loved ones a little tighter, to say thank you a little more readily and to pay it forward little more frequently. You know, generally, to not be a jerk. You are heartedly invited to join me.  

JULY 

“If you are gay, bless you. If you are trans, bless you. If you have a problem with that, f**k you.â€Â 

— Former pro basketball player/current basketball analyst and announcer Charles Barkley, speaking his mind regarding Bud Light’s support of trans activist Dylan Mulvaney’s appearance on a beer can.  

AUGUST 

“I’m going to stay humble. I’m not back. I’m better, and I’ll continue to be better. Never give up, never allow the media or outsiders to define who you are. Always fight. Never leave sight of yourself. You’ll have good days and bad days but you always have tomorrow.â€Â 

— Openly bisexual American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson, named the fastest woman in the world after running 100 meters in just 10.65 seconds at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Richardson’s career had been derailed shortly in 2021 after she tested positive for marijuana shortly before the Tokyo Olympics. Richardson had ingested cannabis to help her cope with her grief after the death of her mother.  

SEPTEMBER

“Drag shows express a litany of emotions and purposes, from humor and pure entertainment to social commentary on gender roles. There is no doubt that at the bare minimum these performances are meant to be a form of art that is meant to entertain, alone this would warrant some level of First Amendment protection.â€Â 

— U.S. District Judge David Hittner, in his ruling against Senate Bill 12 calling it “unconstitutional.†SB 12 was introduced and passed by Republicans in the Texas legislature earlier this year and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in June. The law criminalized “sexually explicit†performances in the presence of minors, defining such performances as those in which “a male performer [is] exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male.†Under the law, both performers and venues that hosted such performances would have faced a $10,000 fine and up to one year in prison.  

OCTOBER

“Happy anniversary to my wife!â€Â Â 

— U.S. Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN), exuberantly wishing her wife a happy anniversary as she voted in the House chamber for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker of the House. Half of the chamber gave Craig a standing ovation. Guess which half. Jeffries ultimately lost the vote for Speakership, but we all know Craig and her wife won her own personal “Happiest Representative†contest that day. 

NOVEMBER 

“Voters across the country made their voices heard. With our votes we can move closer to liberation for all. The people sent a clear message that extremist conservatives have no place in this country, our democracy is to be protected and we must protect our bodily autonomy, civil liberties and more — all of which are under threat by extremists at state and federal levels. But there is a long road ahead. Let’s keep up the momentum at the ballot box in November 2024.â€â€¯Â 

— National LGBTQ Task Force Policy director Allen Morris, whose preferred pronouns are “he/his/gladiator.â€Â 

 DECEMBER

 “I’d like to extend an apology for my past transgressions against our country’s — and the world’s — greater LGBTQ+ community. I never should say things like, ‘Some credit to the fall of Rome to not only the deprivation of the society and the loss of morals, but also to the rampant homosexual behavior that was condoned by the society,’ like I said in 2008. That’s not how a true Christian talks. I realize now that my acting like a big d*ck will not give me one. Boy, was I wrong.â€Â 

— Newly-crowned U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, during a surprise guest appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race Holiday Special. (OK, I had to make up this particular quote since MONTROSE STAR went to press before we got to December. Consider it a special wanna-be holiday gift to us all.)  

Cheers to 2024! 

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