NY Times Image of Rosie's Annual Cruise

When I was an undergrad at Syracuse University, Mr. Pat Buchanan himself came to speak at the chapel that served as our free speech zone. Always a believer in knowing my enemies, I went to hear him and managed to snag a seat in the very front row. Sitting alongside a twitchy young woman with a folded sheet on her lap, I listened to him deftly avoid every controversial topic we knew him for, focusing instead on uniting concepts like improving our chances for getting jobs upon graduation. At the end of his lecture, just when the crowd seemed least sure of what to do, a group of protesters who were spread throughout the chapel stood quietly and assumed their places. Pairs of lesbians rose from the seated audience and began their kiss-in, long lines of liberals formed behind the micophones with question sheets in hand, and my neighbor on the front row bench sprung to the front of the room with her sheet. It turns out that her friend didn’t make it, so she took my hand in mid-leap and I joined her. Heady with the moment, there I was holding a homemade banner with an unknown message. I smiled at the room, spotting several of my professors, along with my confused boyfriend. Then I leaned back to read my banner, squinting through the sheet at the backwards, hand-painted words.

“Gay Families Have Values, Too”

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