The crowd in the Diag on Friday was relatively small (only about 100, if you believe the Daily), but everybody there was passionate and in a defiant mood, even though the overriding mood of the times is one of fear and (sometimes) despair. Ralph Williams, who has been in the English Department here since 1969, gave a short but powerful speech. As I stood there, I couldn’t help but recall all of the similar rallies and other events I strenuously avoided in White Plaza at Stanford when I was an undergrad. Those were different times. It’s strange how these times seem so much “better” in many material ways yet somehow also on the brink of being suddenly, frighteningly, and unimaginably worse. Proposal 2 is just one close-to-home and concrete example of that paradox.

The Michigan Daily carried a headline in yesterday’s edition: “Coming Out rally highlights empowerment.” That has got to be one of the dullest, innocuous, sleep-deprived headlines ever. (I know because I wrote a lot of the other dullest headlines ever when I was a page editor in college.)

Anyway, the other unsuccessful aspect of this article was that it spoke briefly about Proposal 2, which it called “a ballot initiative seeking to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage and similar unions.”

Folks, Proposal 2 will not just ban “gay marriage and similar unions.” It will take away health and other benefits from any unmarried couples, whether they’re gay, bi, straight, or any variation thereof. The proponents of this amendment want to destroy any relationship that is not defined by the rite of holy matrimony. That isn’t just gay relationships, although they would love you to believe that.

The University’s Regental By-law 14.06, revised in 1993, reads as follows:

The University is committed to a policy of nondiscrimination and equal opportunity for all persons regardless of race, sex, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or Vietnam-era veteran status.

I’m no lawyer, but you don’t have to be one to know that the legality of that bylaw will be in serious doubt if Proposal 2 goes through.

Please remember that when you go to the ballot box on November 2.

And a big fat jeer to the Daily for not pointing out how pernicious and ominous Proposal 2 is, and how many people’s lives at the University of Michigan – not just students, but employees – this hate amendment will affect if it goes into law.

It was kind of chilly yesterday, but today it was back to sun and nearly 70-degree temps. I see the National Weather Service is predicting “showers likely” for the rest of the week; I’ll believe it when I see it. Today I walked around campus in a bulky zippered sweatshirt because I thought it would be cold. I felt like a dork.