There is a front-page diary about the surprising turn of events where Ted Olson has taken up the cause of marriage equality in California. I don't know the man so I can't guess at his motives. But something Jimmy Breslin once said just might make sense of it.
I grew up in New York City in the 1970s and 80s. Before I became aware of anything about politics, I knew that my parents hated Jimmy Breslin. Breslin was a columnist who often covered things like police corruption and political cronyism. He spoke for the little guy but in a way that struck my Republican parents as arrogant and hypocritical.
When I got old enough to read the papers on my own, I found that I usually liked his stuff. And I agreed with him on most things-most of all the superiority of NYC to all other cities on earth. (An easy opinion to form when the only other city I ever visited was Harrisburg, PA.)
Non New Yorkers might know Jimmy best for his work on the Son of Sam Murders. The Son of Sam wrote letters to Breslin during his killing spree in 1977 and Breslin later wrote a book on the subject. He also book ends the Spike Lee film Summer of Sam, with a memorable line at the end where he describes David Horrowitz as "that sick fuck". I saw that film in Virginia and the crowd erupted with laughter. He doesn't look a guy to drop F bombs in mixed company-unless you know him.
After 9/11 Breslin went around to the families of people who died that day and he asked to listen to the phone messages that were left by people stuck in the towers. I saw Breslin reading aloud from the book he ultimately wrote on the subject ("American Lives: The Stories of the Men and Women Lost on 9/11). His heavy Noo Yawk accent made me homesick. (I'm using the blockqoute function, but this is in fact a paraphrase.)
You know something, all of those messages that I listened to, from people who knew they were going to die, they all said the same three things: I love you, I love you, and I love you. There was nothing about racial hatred or wanting vengeance or even anger. Just love. There's something comforting in that. We now know that when death is imminent, our only regret will be not saying I love you enough.
Ted Olson is many things. One of them is 9/11 widower. His wife Barbara, who I must still confess I did not like, died on the plane that hit the Pentagon. Maybe in the years since that crash, he has realized that the only thing he regrets is not saying "I love you" more often. I think it's a short ride from there to the realization that a gay person would feel the exact same way.