“I think that (the campaign against) Prop. 8 ignored the basics. They did not let the voters know who would be hurt by passage of the bill and how they would be hurt. The campaign against Prop. 8 talked about human rights (but didn’t) put a face on the campaign. ... Harvey (Milk) understood that you had to show who exactly would be hurt if Proposition 6 (or in this case Prop. 8) passed. Everybody knows somebody who is gay. It might be your neighbor, someone you work with, a relative or even a friend of a friend. These relationships make the difference. The voters can understand if you are talking about taking rights away from someone they personally know but if they can’t see the impact, if it is too abstract, then it is easy to vote for or against a measure. Ultimately, I think this is why Prop. 8 passed. ... The campaign was not made personal and didn’t put a face on the men and women whose rights were revoked. A lot of money was raised, lots of money was spent and we lost Prop. 8. I think we were missing a focus. ... Personally, I believe if Harvey had been alive we could have won.”

“For conservatives who don’t like what I’m doing, it’s, ‘If he just had someone in his family we’d forgive him.’ For liberals it’s such a freakish thing that it’s, ‘He must have someone in his family, otherwise a conservative couldn’t possibly have these views.’ It’s frustrating that people won’t take it on face value.”