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On Friday my son took a field trip with his first grade class to throw flower petals at his teacher as she exited City Hall in San Francisco, a newlywed. The class took a city bus down, surprised her and her bride, then had pizza. My son described the adventure as mostly boring, waiting around on the steps of City Hall with handfuls of flower petals. But he was very happy for his teacher, who he has quickly grown to love. When asked about the event, he gave a six-year-old’s answer about people loving and caring for each other. He then moved on to Legos and more important things.

What my son (and I) didn’t understand is that what he took part in was, according to Bill O’Reilly, “A new outrage in San Francisco,” and that “opponents of gay marriage are up in arms, but the school administrators say it’s no big deal.” Ah, a teaching moment. Yes, kids, monsters are real. You’ll know them because they’ll be the ones taking up “arms” against an elementary school.

A story on the event, which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on Saturday, has attracted more than 1,400 comments, many of them censored by the Chron—I assume because they contain threats and curse words—as well as homophobic diatribes more suitable for publication, like O’Reilly’s. I’d like to thank Mayor Newsom (who performed the wedding) for standing up for the issue of gay marriage, even as I beg his pardon for complicating matters by allowing my kid to play a small, meaningful part in a legal and beautiful celebration.

I also want to be clear to the monsters and bigots out there that you’re not scary. Hateful, yes, but you don’t scare us.

—Eddie Scher