Funny how, just last night, I was speculating on the state of mind of those who have birthdays on September 11, and today I hear about a man named Ted Olson. His birthday is on September 11. He was in his office, talking to his wife on his cell phone, on the day he turned 61. At that moment, the plane on which she was a passenger was being piloted by terrorists into the Pentagon.
Ted Olson’s office was that of Solicitor General of the United States. He represented the government before the Supreme Court. Olson had experience in that arena: he had been on the winning side of Bush v. Gore, making his then friend and later boss, George W. Bush, president. That he and his wife, Barbara, were staunch Republicans was no secret. She had authored a book highly critical of Hillary Clinton and often appeared as a commentator on Fox News. He, well, he had successfully argued for George W. Bush.
So he’d either have to be crazy or brilliant. To continue to be active in public and legal affairs after the tragic death of his wife, Olson would have to be crazy or brave. To express a deeply felt moral and intellectual objection to a statute held dear by many of his compatriots would make him crazy, brave, and probably brilliant. The latter he proved with his legal challenge to California’s Proposition 8 with the help of another lawyer, David Boies.
David Boies also made his bones on Bush v. Gore, but he was on the other side, meaning these two were legal and political opponents before they were allies. And as such, they are probably only allies on the legal front. Ted Olson is still a conservative; however, he is a conservative who seeks to have fundamental rights ensured for all people. To see a group which wants to become a full and equal part of the community be denied such simply because of how they were born does not make any sense to his sense of the law.
I do not know to what extent that sense was shaped on September 11, 2001. Olson has had other birthdays since. Would be anniversaries have come and gone. He has fallen in love and married again. As much as is possible, his life has returned to normal. Maybe he thinks that’s not too much too ask for anyone else, straight or gay.