Liberation, forgiveness, and friendship

Emily Spivack ( Bio  /   Posts )  |  Wednesday, January 19, 2011 UTC

In 1984, Jennifer Thompson was raped. She went on to testify that Ronald Cotton was the man who attacked her and as a result, he was sentenced to life in prison. After eleven years of incarceration, DNA evidence exonerated Cotton of the crime. Two years after he was released, Thompson reached out to apologize. Not only did he forgive her, but Thompson and Cotton went on to write a memoir together about their experience, Picking Cotton: Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption.

77% of Americans have a close family member or friend who is gay. But s/he isn’t afforded the same rights as her/his straight counterparts. For example, it could take a decade or two before the gay community is on equal footing when it comes to social security benefits for one’s partner or hospital visitation rights. For 2010 Social Innovation Fellow Brian Elliot, that’s far too long to wait. To speed up the process, he’s founded Friendfactor, a social network to move the process forward based on the premise that change is more likely to occur when the focus is on supporting a gay friend rather than supporting gay rights.

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