I’ll be back soon

A quick dispatch from California.

Downtown Petaluma, CA.

Hi, dear readers.

I left y’all hanging without a newsletter last week, and for that I am sorry. I’ve been traveling in California, and despite my best efforts, was not able to schedule a couple of posts before I left.

But I think the reason I’m in California is a decent excuse: I came out to San Francisco to meet and interview one of the key sources for my book.

His name is Steven Cozza. Some of you may remember him as the teenage eagle scout and activist who, in the mid-1990s, started an organization called Scouting for All. Cozza was not gay himself, but when he discovered that the Boy Scouts of America banned gay members, he felt that he needed to do something to change that. So, a nonprofit was born.

Cozza was the mouthpiece of Scouting for All—traveling cross country to give speeches and make the case for gay inclusion—while his dad, Scott, took care of the administrative duties. Their activism consumed years of their life, and continued even after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the BSA’s right to discriminate in 2000.

Cozza’s story is fairly well-documented already, but I felt that visiting him in person, in his hometown, would reveal new layers that I could incorporate into my book.

Reader, I was blown away by how much I learned during my time with him. In just a day and a half, I got a vivid sense of Cozza’s upbringing, his motivations, and his enduring intolerance for injustice. His dad, who I also met, filled in even more details about the family’s roots in social justice work.

I’m still digesting and sorting through my many notes and photos, but I can’t wait to share more of the Cozzas’ story with you soon.

For now, I’m spending a bit more time in California (on vacation), before I jump back into the groove.

Thanks for sticking with me. I’ll be back in your inbox again soon.