Tom Ammiano’s Longest Run

What a wonderful story (by my old SF Examiner colleague Carol Pogash) in today’s NY Times about the VERY belated awarding of a varsity track letter to Tom Ammiano. Now 79 years young, Ammiano — the charismatic, sharp-witted heir to Harvey Milk’s gay political legacy — was denied the varsity letter he earned at age 16 for long-distance running by his Catholic high school in Montclair, New Jersey. He was never told the reason for the rank injustice but he knew why. “I was weird and different,” he told Pogash. But happy ending: Because of the intervention of a Jewish cantor (!) — you’ll have to read the story — Immaculate Conception High School has finally awarded Ammiano his varsity letter, over six decades later.

“I went to seventh heaven,” said Ammiano, when he heard about the school’s reversal. I expect to see the still stylish Ammiano now swanning about San Francisco in his varsity sweater.

Full disclosure and all of that — I’ve known Tom forever and I wrote the Foreword to his hugely entertaining memoir about life in progressive California politics, standup comedy, and school teaching (interesting mix). The book is called Kiss My Gay Ass (which he once yelled at Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) and you must buy it if you love reading insider accounts about the madcap political arena. (I love the title, but also liked another one he was toying with, Season of the Bitch, a wink and a nod to my own San Francisco history.)

Here’s to Tom Ammiano, still winning races after a long career as a political warhorse. Like his role model Harvey Milk, Ammiano knew that gay rights needed to be part of a rainbow struggle for all human rights. As former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos (another local hero) told Pogash, Ammiano — who became president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and later a California state legislator — fought for community control of the police long before it was politically expedient and won citywide health coverage in San Francisco long before national health insurance became a battle cry.

Come to think of it, Tom Ammiano deserves a lot more than just that long overdue varsity letter.