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Reading the Paper with Andrew Solomon


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Q. Diversity connects us. It’s a central theme in much of your recent writing. Anywhere in today’s paper the idea comes to particular life?

A. Well — the Alabama issue certainly points out how staunch the resistance to diversity can be. But the editorial on Bryan Stevenson, whose work I admire immensely, and the effort to force Southern towns to confront an era of racism is evidence of how reckoning with our differences instead of ignoring them may be a first step toward a kinder society: it is in acknowledging horror that we finally move beyond it.

Q. How does your work on alternate families and gay and L.G.B.T. rights inform your reading about Alabama’s refusal to recognize gay marriages?

A. As a married gay man with children, I am of course devastated by the setbacks to the movement. This, as well as Sam Brownback’s announcement that he is stripping protections for L.G.B.T.Q. workers in Kansas.

Of course, there is always pushback on social reform, and one is inspired by the stories of people who fight the backsliding. But I remain deeply troubled by the rhetoric that says that keeping marriage between one man and one woman is a way of “protecting” marriage…

(To read the rest of the interview, please visit the New York Times website.)