It's always impressive to me when people who have a certain amount of fame, who could spend their time globe-trotting or laying on exotic beaches use their notoriety instead to further a good cause: Zachary Quinto is one of them.
Quinto (being attentive to whatever I'm blathering about, left) who played Spock in the latest Star Trek (there's another one on the way, by the way, with Benedict Cumberbatch no less!), Syler in Heros, and Peter Sullivan in Margin Call. He came to campaign for President Obama at a Meet-and-Greet hosted by Orlando Democratic activist Doug Head. It was an amazing invite to get just when the summer doldrums had hit O-Town - it's too hot to do any serious breathing outdoors and sensible people are in heat hibernation - and suddenly I get the message to oh-by-the-way, come meet the gorgeous, famous, Star Trek actor? My karma must be better than I think.
Quinto came out last year, a move spurred by the tragic suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14 year-old gay teen. In his moving It Gets Better video he lists a number of other teens who committed suicide "and that's just the ones we know about," he says in the video. As a public speaker he proved to be warm, articulate and energizing, reiterating Mitt Romney's anti-gay marriage stance (or, as I think of it, some people are less deserving of civil rights than others and he'll decide who they are), that bizarre desire to want to deny a group of people their right to the pursuit of happiness - even though it won't effect their own lives in the least - and reminded us all of the power of making things personal. Ideology can seem clear cut when it's just law or just words but when you talk to someone eye-to-eye about such personal issues those issues are humanized and it becomes possible to open that person's mind to change.
Anyway, here are some pics and thank you to The Rainbow Democrats, (pictured above) Doug Head, Margo Miller Dixon and Randy Stephens from The Center who organized the event and to Zachary Quinto for doing something admirable with the blessing of fame. Oh, and for being totally charming and even better looking in real life than he is on the screen.
(w/ Billy Manes)
(and me again! Happy Saturday!)
