STATISTICS TO THE RESCUE

California's going to make an honest woman out of me. This week, the California supreme court refused all appeals to the court's recent decision legalizing gay marriage in that state. This means that gay men and lesbians can begin legally marrying in California at 5:01 P.M. on Monday June 16. With this news, I ran straight to Tiffany's to look at the wedding bands I'd picked out from the Tiffany website last week.

A very nice young sales associate, let's call her JN, helped me. She did what all good sales associates do: she listened to what I was saying. As often happens with online shopping, the rings that looked perfect onscreen weren't exactly what I was hoping for. I want something big. Something bold. Something distinctive. Yet something simple. So JN said, "How 'bout this one?" She showed me the ring above. It's perfect. I love it. Even if it costs more than you might imagine.

Since I was by myself, JN wondered if the ring was for a wedding, my wedding. And you know what? I hedged. I fudged. I obfuscated. I thought of the days within my own lifetime when it wasn't safe to be the least bit out. But then I remembered the polling statistics my father's been telling me about recently that show that the younger a person is, the more likely that person is to (a) know someone who's gay, and (b) support gay marriage. So I decided to put those statistics to the test. I told JN the whole story about going to California with SJG to get married, and a big smile spread across her face.

"Congratulations!" she said. "That's so exciting! One of my colleagues is going to do the same thing." I almost wrote out the check on the spot.