A 65-year-old civic leader outs himself to fight Prop. 8

(University of the Pacific) For 60 years, Glenn Fait kept his sexual orientation a secret. He became a law school dean and the mayor of his hometown, Folsom, Calif. It all changed last week, when he realized "I can do this . . . My civil rights are at stake."    

The ad Fait took out in his hometown paper begins: "As a gay man, I have a personal interest in Proposition 8. . . "

Folsom is a historic mining town; its roots run generations deep. Fait came out to his relatives five years ago, he told the Sacramento Bee, and ruffled the family feathers only when he mentioned in the ad that his aunt, the late Eleanor Fait, a well-known community activist, spent 50 years of her life with her partner.

"People often have stereotypes of gay people," Fait told the Bee.  "It helps sometimes when they realize that someone they have a business or community relationship with is gay."

Fait, a Republican, says he has no plans to get married, but doesn't want government saying he can't. He said Wednesday he'd gotten no fallout either way from his coming-out statement. 

 

Comments

[Ray - Jackson, MS]

What do you know. A republican with dignity and courage. Who would have thought it. Especially a gay one.

[HT]

How many people need to be lectured about the existence of stereotypes?

Especially bisexuals, but I digress.

The world is made up of all types. Even bisexual republicans. (See if you readers can figure that out without resorting to the typical forms of cynicism and hate you mask your own intolerance with.)