i ll never forget it, it was about a 6 or 7-week trial, 1992 or something like that, 91, and it was remarkable to me because we did a questionnaire because the case had a lot of publicity. and i d say 99 percent of the people noted, the potential jurors noted they have daily and meaningful contact with a person of another race or religion. and then i had another trial after this was done in another jurisdiction that shall go unnamed, and i would say there were maybe 5 percent of the jurors, potential jurors, who had had meaningful contact with a person of a different race or ethnicity and that s really what this is about. one of my least favorite words is the word tolerance because, you know, i tolerate brussel sprouts but if you simply tolerate the diversity that is america, you are going to, you are aspiring for mediocrity. when we have, and this gets back to your question, when we have leaders that embrace diversity and that build a culture that says, you know what, if you
progress. my heart is heavy for your experience. i can t imagine that this will make you feel any better, nor is it my intent that you do because i wouldn t, quite frankly, belittle your grief with new laws that can t bring your son back. four years ago when what happened to you happened, we didn t have a federal government that ensured that lgbt youth were going to be protected by the nation s civil rights laws, and now we do. seth s mother, nothing we could do to bring seth walsh back. nothing we could do could ensure that her pain or the pain that he and his family and his community suffered through the many years that he was ridiculed and abused and beaten because he was a member of the lgbt community, could bring him back. but what we have in place there, what i want to believe with all that i am that we would have had in place at that school in sacramento if it happened now or any time in the last 3 year, 3 1/2 years, would have been not just an accountability documen
culture that says, you know what, if you want to compete in the global economy tomorrow, pal, you ve got to embrace diversity. why does coca-cola write a brief to the united states supreme court and general motors and microsoft on issues of diversity and higher education? because they know if they want to get ahead, they ve got to embrace that diversity. if they want to continue to be a fortunes 50 company, there s got to embrace diversity. similarly if we want to get down to the local level and address this issue, we ve got to teach our kids that the sooner that you embrace difference and understand that your muslim classmate or your seat classmate or your gay classmate or your limited english professor classmate might be tomorrow s ceo or today s best friend of yours, the better off we will be. you have a leg up, having done about 30 jury trials across this country and seen interactions between people of diverse backgrounds. and here we try to celebrate, not just embrace,
another race or religion. and then i had another trial after this was done in another jurisdiction that shall go unnamed, and i would say there were maybe 5 percent of the jurors, potential jurors, who had had meaningful contact with a person of a different race or ethnicity and that s really what this is about. one of my least favorite words is the word tolerance because, you know, i tolerate brussel sprouts but if you simply tolerate the diversity that is america, you are going to, you are aspiring for mediocrity. when we have, and this gets back to your question, when we have leaders that embrace diversity and that build a culture that says, you know what, if you want to compete in the global economy tomorrow, pal, you ve got to embrace diversity. why does coca-cola write a brief to the united states supreme court and general motors and microsoft on issues of diversity and higher education? because they know if they want to get ahead, they ve got to embrace that diversity.
the day jill died i walked into her bedroom to wake her up around 11:00 am and i walked in and the dogs jumped up on the bed and she said a sweet hello to me. and i said i was concerned because she was sleeping late and i thought she should get up and get started on her day, because it was sunday. i came home and saw jill had been, she was awake and she was talking but she wouldn t talk to me. i thought she was just mad because i cut her curfew. we all proceeded to get settled and i began making dinner. i went to get her for dinner just shortly after 6:00 pm (inaudible) jill s door, it was atypical for it to be locked. i knocked on the door, went around nothing happened. so she went around to an adjoining bathroom and entered jill s room from the bathroom. and i found her hanging from her closet door, hunched over on the ground. that s when i heard polly scream. i came running, i knew something was wrong. and polly kept calling out, she hung herself, she hung he