Once clear of the security scan at the entrance, I couldn't tell which way to go ("upstairs," according to previous instruction). The place was packed with people dressed in black suits, so I stood out somewhat. My puzzled look caught an employee's eye and she guided me to the information desk on the main floor. The woman at the desk gave me very clear instructions on how to reach both legislators.

On the third floor, I walked to the desk on the east side of the building. I asked the gentleman at the desk to speak to Brian Bosma. He handed me a plain notepad and asked me to write my name and whom I represent. Since I don't represent anyone, he said my name would do. He explained that Mr. Bosma might not be available and took my note back.

About five minutes later, a well-dressed woman about my own age appeared. She was Bosma's personal assistant, and she told me that he was not in. I told her why I was there. She seemed sympathetic to my cause and encouraged me to contact Bosma by email. We shook hands and I went to the desk on the west side of the building.

Married twice with four children, Swilley amicably divorced his second wife after 21 years of marriage. Ex-wife Debye remains his co-pastor and best friend. She knew from the start he was gay. She filed for divorce a couple of years ago, encouraging Swilley to be "real," as his ministry purports to be. She still feels today that "there is no finer man than this man" and calls him an "awesome man of integrity."

Why did Swilley choose to come out now? It was the stories of the gay youths who took their own lives that compelled him to take this risk. He couldn't stay silent, knowing that his story might save lives.

There is no scandal underlying this public revelation. Swilley says that he has been faithful and is now celibate. As to what will happen now in his personal life, Swilley says with a slight smile, "Frankly, that's just none of your business."

Some people might visit the site to inflame the situation further. Forget them. Continue the discussion, not the fight. Tell your stories to those who read to learn more, and show them the people who are harmed by this sort of discrimination. This is a teaching moment. Let's use it well.

While the debate question was "Should a business be allowed to turn people away?" the subtext is "Should this store be allowed to refuse service to this individual in this case?" The Human Rights Ordinance adopted by Marion County in 2005 says no. So the real debate is why this legislation should stand.

The bakery owners, David and Lily Stockton, have deep convictions backed by their faith that made them refuse to fill an order that would have been part of a celebration for National Coming Out Day. Their concern was that it would set a bad example for their daughters. Those daughters--who are young adults--are probably old enough to discern for themselves the nuance of spiritual obedience. The Stocktons passed up the chance to teach them by example how to accept and celebrate the diversity of people and instead taught them the wrong lesson.

We are human beings and we will make mistakes. When those mistakes have the potential to cause harm, we make laws to prevent them from happening. My rights as an individual end at the point they cause another person harm. Discrimination is wrong regardless of its target because it causes harm; it is not defined by its object. All laws are designed to guide our behavior; they exist to bring out the best in us. This ordinance does exactly that by requiring that we treat all individuals the same. It is a nonpartisan issue that has the full support of the mayor's office.

I was given the start, and my mouth was so dry my tongue literally wouldn't move against my teeth. I mumbled, trying to wrap my lips around consonants. After a few minutes my salivary glands decided to kick in, and we were off to the races. Clark was obviously well-practiced in arguing legislation, so I knew my only advantage lay in the personal (where it belongs). It became a debate between policy and people. I think I did okay.

You can decide for yourself on Monday evening at 10:00 on Fox channel 59 in Indianapolis. I don't care how I looked; I want the message to be heard. I hope I did you proud. I'll post my talking points this weekend.

Internal Revenue Service

Re:Taxation and Civil Disobedience

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to you to inform you of my intent to pay my tax bill in the same way that the government of the United States has thus far chosen to honor my citizenship as a gay man: which is to say in as negligible and as slow a fashion as is possible. I am constantly amazed at the way in which the United States of America has chosen over and over again to use federal power to limit my equal treatment under the law and yet--inconceivably!--expect my full, willing fiscal participation in a system that favors its non-human Big Businesses over its citizens.

Do not be confused: I have every intention of paying my tax debt. In full. But, so long as the government insists on treating my partner and me as second-class citizens whose constitutionally guaranteed rights are less a matter of urgency than warmongering, I feel less urgently about attending to this bill in a timely fashion. On the day in which my rights are restored, we will take up this discussion again in earnest and with my happy participation.

Thank you,

Xxxxxx Xxxx, abused citizen

He enclosed a check for five dollars. I love this man.

"But gay adults aren't allowed to talk to these kids. Schools and churches don't bring us in to talk to teenagers who are being bullied. Many of these kids have homophobic parents who believe that they can prevent their gay children from growing up to be gay--or from ever coming out--by depriving them of information, resources, and positive role models."

Dan has started a YouTube channel called "It Gets Better" in which he has posted a video telling kids to wait it out until they're out of school. He and his normally camera-shy husband Terry talk about their school experiences--which included bullying--and how they're so glad they stuck it out to have the lives they're enjoying today.

"We both went to Christian schools and we were both bullied--he had it a lot worse than I did--and we are living proof that it gets better. We don't dwell too much on the past. Instead, we talk mostly about all the meaningful things in our lives now--our families, our friends (gay and straight), the places we've gone and things we've experienced--that we would've missed out on if we'd killed ourselves then. "You gotta give 'em hope," Harvey Milk said."

Dan's video is below the cut.

Fellow students of Greensburg Community High School in Indiana said that Billy's harassment was common knowledge. A former student--now an adult--claimed that bullying is a long-standing tradition at Greensburg High. He stated he was personally affected as well by Billy's death, having attempted suicide himself while a student at the school.

In an astonishingly callous remark, Greensburg High principal Phil Chappel seemed almost to blame Billy for his own persecution: "Sometimes he created an atmosphere around him like a little tornado, you know, because he went around doing things that made dust fly." This moral ambivalence shows a shocking lack of understanding, and I urge the Greensburg school board to pursue anti-bullying education for the school staff immediately.

An online friend of mine is a passionate and intelligent man who reached out to me at a moment of deep grief. He lost his best friend who took his own life in a moment of surrender to despair. "Jim" called me to talk because he knew of my own experience with my father's suicide many years ago.

I was eighteen and Dad was fifty-five. He had moved out of the house when I was nine. I saw him one weekend a month, but many of those days were filled with words unsaid. We didn't have much time for those spontaneous conversations that fill in the jigsaw gaps of who we have become, but it was a gentle silence of mutual love. I knew without a doubt how much my father loved me. All of us kids knew.

If this is your photo, please email me for proper acknowledgement.

I study the Bible with the understanding that not all things in it are equal. Every Christian is a "selective" Christian; that is, we all choose which parts of the Bible we will embrace. Even those who claim to take the Bible literally do not stone to death those found guilty of blasphemy or adultery. We must be selective because not all of the warnings and exhortations of the Bible apply to today's world in a modern context.

Our interpretation of the Bible has changed with improved scholarship of translation. New insights into ancient languages and the people who used them have given us a better understanding of the writers' intent. The word "abomination" used in the King James Version conveys a deep sense of moral transgression in English that does not exist in the original Hebrew words used in Leviticus. Those words are more fittingly defined as "ritual taboo" or "moral offense." The term Paul created in 1 Corinthians was employing a stem word that meant "shrine prostitution" for centuries before and after 1 Corinthians was written. The word "homosexual" was coined in 1896 by a social scientist and included in a Bible for the first time in 1947. Languages change and so do meanings. We must be careful to employ context when translating.