Gwenn Craig made her way slowly through the lobby of a beachfront 
landmark, past the colorful Depression-era murals to the elevator and a table upstairs for two.
She came to discuss history of a more recent and personal nature, and how you can prevail in certain battles but never stop having to fight.
“That’s what leaves me sometimes so exhausted,” the 70-year-old Craig said, as waves unfurled in the ocean below. “No matter what, it’s constant. You can’t just say, ‘We won the struggle, and now we can rest.’”In 1978, Craig helped lead the fight against Proposition 6, a California ballot measure that would have banned gays and lesbians from working in public schools. Though it started out leading in polls, the measure lost overwhelmingly in one of the first major electoral victories for the gay rights movement.
Now, with lawmakers across the country passing laws to restrict what teachers can say about sexual orientation and how parents can engage with their transgender children, it seems as though events, if not exactly repeating, are traveling full circle and landing with blunt force. Continue reading “Column: ‘So exhausted.’ She helped win an early gay rights fight but now sees the country moving backward”