speaking out

Click on the photo to go to the San Francisco Chronicle article about why I'm not teaching this year. I haven't written much about this subject here, and that was mainly because I was pursuing the matter privately and through appropriate channels. So I hope that this article gives you a better sense of what Corey and I have been going through over the past several months.

Thank you, by the way, to everyone who has offered their support, sympathies, and frustrations throughout this process. I know that Corey and I depended on all of your warm thoughts, and they were greatly appreciated.

And to anyone who is outraged by what has happened, perhaps this would be a good time to consider a donation to Equality California or the Human Rights Campaign? The battle for civil rights in this country didn't fight itself, people. This issue needs caring, thoughtful, committed people behind it, and if you're reading this, you've already displayed the first two. Put your words and your feelings into action and help protect the citizens of this country from experiencing another state-sanctioned divorce.

Students (especially former students of mine) have a unique opportunity right now. Take this issue to your classrooms, your teachers, your coaches, your parents, your friends. Stand up and be heard. This is your future we're fighting for right now. Are you going to sit back and let us bicker over what kind of life you'll get to have? Get in the game and play hard.

Looking back through the photographs of that special day, I can still feel the light that filled that building during those 4,096 weddings. This was freedom! This was joy! This was power and courage and hope! This was celebration! This was a great step forward in the struggle for equality. This was "the arc of the moral universe" bending toward justice. This was a group of thoughtful, caring, committed people doing nothing more extraordinary than waking up one morning and changing the world.

Make no mistake, folks, God was in City Hall that day. And God was smiling.

Posted: Fri - August 20, 2004 at 10:54 AM

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speaking out

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