Tom Ammiano Receives High School Varsity Letter Decades Later

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2021

⏱️ 22 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

An old wound was healed last week when former California state Assemblymember and longtime LGBTQ rights leader Tom Ammiano received his varsity letter decades after earning it on his high school track team. During an interview with KQED’s Political Breakdown, Ammiano, now 79, told his story of being denied a varsity letter because of homophobic rhetoric stating, “it’s something that still hurts, even a hundred years later.” A longtime listener was struck by the conversation and reached out to Immaculate Conception High School in New Jersey directly. The president and director of the school had a letter custom-made. His story went viral and since then, Ammiano has gained national recognition for his work in civil rights, education and politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for Forum comes from Rancho La Puerta, a wellness resort in Baja, California, just an hour from San Diego.
0:07.6	Three, four, and seven-night summer packages include fitness classes, hiking, live music, mindfulness, and culinary adventures, featuring fruits and veggies straight off the vine.
0:18.9	Special rates and offers are available for summer stays and first-time guests.
0:23.8	Saver summer at Rancho LaPuerta.com.
0:28.2	Switch to Comcast Business Mobile and save hundreds a year in your wireless bill.
0:32.3	Comcast Business, powering possibilities.
0:34.9	Restrictions apply. Comcast Business Internet required.
0:36.9	Comparse two unlimited intro lines and lowest price 5D plans of top three carriers.
0:39.9	Tax on fees extra, reduce speeds after 30 gigabytes of usage.
0:42.2	Data thresholds may vary.
0:44.6	From KQED.
0:46.9	Former State Assemblyman Tom Amiano has been on the front lines of the fight for LGBT rights for decades.
0:53.2	And last week, something kind of amazing happened.
0:56.0	He received his varsity track letter 62 years after his Catholic New Jersey school changed the rules retroactively, preventing him from receiving the letter he had qualified for.
1:06.0	The reversal occurred after Tom shared his story right here on KQED, speaking to Scott Schaefer and me on political breakdown last December.
1:13.8	And it's gotten some national attention since.
1:17.0	Tom's here to talk about all of this.
1:18.7	Tom Amiano, welcome to Forum.
1:20.8	Hey, good morning and happy belated Mother's Day.
1:23.4	Oh, thank you, Tom.
1:25.1	Well, I mean, this is like one of the stories that as a journalist, it's just so exciting to see something that you've done actually of real world consequences. And I was hoping to start, I mean, let's go back. You wrote about this in your book, which is why we need to ask you about it. So you were, you grew up in New Jersey,
1:45.0	went to a Catholic school, Italian family. And I mean, tell us about being on the track team.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.