Thursday, December 17, 2009

people I don't really know in the news

In the middle of the night, I was listening to BBC radio, as I often do when I can't sleep, and they broadcast a story about the ongoing controversy in Uganda, about the proposed anti-gay laws.

The BBC announcer reported that the situation had been made worse by the efforts of two American 'preachers', one of whom is Scott Lively.

Now that is a name I had not heard in many years, not so much from his Oregon Citizens Alliance days, but from another, more distant connection.

Scott's wife, Anne, worked at Blue Cross when I was there a long time ago, and I always thought she was a lovely person. In fact, she and Scott were invited to our wedding party - this would have been 1985.

As a wedding present, they presented us with a plant, now many feet tall, that still sits in the corner of our dining room (and had to get carefully moved out of the way for Thanksgiving).

He and Anne divorced years ago - I have wondered what it was like in that home - and today, Scott Lively is in the international news spotlight, for being one of the world's pre-eminent anti-gay crusaders.

This certainly does not approach the level of the "I knew him when" bragging I can do about Tommy Hillfiger, but, this chilly, rainy morning in Portland, it's the best I can do.

Merry Christmas to all. I wish I could believe that the savior of humanity has already walked the earth, but it's a stretch, given the evidence to the contrary.

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