The gay bars were filled with undercover cops ready to arrest you for language that suggested sexual intercourse. I was young, single, and my testosterone levels were high. The bartender was my friend, and if I asked for " the usual" and he brought me a strange drink, I knew the man I was talking to was a cop. I would stay there not to arouse suspicion, and talk about religion, sports or politics, and he would leave.

Next door, the dance bar was in speakesie door and allowed only an equal number of gays and lesbians on the dance floor for switching if they raided and the lights flashed.
I still have my Mattachine Society card, as my card for the Gay Liberation Front - precursors for the many fights we had over four decades. So I hail former Solicitor General Ted Olson. He lost his wife on the plane that hit the Pentagon on 9/11. David Boies is a conservative Democrat - so both have a strict constructionist view of the U.S. Constitution.

Civil rights groups say "Make Change, Not Lawsuits", explicitly discouraging a federal legal challenge. "The arguments in the briefs are not the only thing that influences the Court's decisions. The climate of receptivity and momentum in the country on these issues matter as well. There is much we can and should do together to strengthen our hand before we put a federal marriage case before the justices," reads the question and answer online sheet.

This is a defensive, crouching strategy that argues before demanding civil rights for everyone, make sure its okay with the bigots first. Put another way, "This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism," as MLK reminded us on one very special day. The news that Bush v. Gore attorneys Theodore B. Olson and and David Boies are seeking an injunction against California's same-sex marriage ban could be the first step in the U.S. Supreme Court guaranteeing gay Americans equal protection, due process and privacy rights.

Personally, my husband and I, speaking also for our son, are no longer able to support those organizations who have made our expatriation to a dual national Canada necessary to live in equal justice under law. These men and women have become gentrified activists who literally have the socio-economic reality to "sleep with the enemy" - and become spokespersons for the DC political agenda of both foes and faux allies.