My first letter of 2009 was printed in amNY on January 2:

Civil rights were both bolstered and befuddled in 2008. Barack Obama represented to many the manifestation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's vision for America. But the passage of Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage in California sadly demonstrated the still powerful effect bias wields over the concept of equal treatment under the law. Hopefully, the good sense that put Obama in office will also guide us in addressing the rights of gay couples.

My friend Michael Meyers, Executive Director of the New York Civil Rights Coalition, had a response to my letter printed in amNY on January 5, 2009. Unfortunately, the newspaper editted out that reference (space considerations, no doubt). The letter in its original form:

David Terhune (Letters, Jan. 2) rightly condemns anti-gay bigotry in America as a low point of 2008, especially with the passage of California's Proposition 8 that rendered same-sex marriage illegal. While the California Supreme Court will likely invalidate that referendum as an impermissible deprivation of people's civil rights, the blunder of Barack Obama (whose own electoral victory constituted a victory over bigotry and presaged a new era in race relations) stands unchallenged by the rule of law, and with no apology or change of heart by Obama for inviting Pastor Rick Warren, whose ministry preaches against equality before the law for gays, and others, in the guise of religiosity, to give the invocation at Obama's Inauguration. Besides being yet another glaring example and argument for the principle that religion should be separated from government and secular affairs, Obama's stance that he may (on the questionable grounds that he is a "fierce" supporter of gay rights) legitimize and empower religious bigots by inviting the #1 apostle of anti-gay bigotry on to the First Stage is a giant step backwards for civil rights and egalitarianism.