I just reacted mentally: Maybe he doesn’t want a pardon! I guess my reaction is from the idea when someone is accused and prosecuted under such an in-human law by the government, why would they want a pardon by that same government. Isn’t it the government of the people, by the people, and for the people to ask for a pardon for making such a law that deprives an individual from expressing their inalienable rights in a consensual relationship? The government was wrong; not Ruskin. He doesn’t need a pardon for expressing his constitutional rights generated from the core principles of democracy. That somehow shades his reputation as an activist for two intersectional causes. He’s the hero of democracy, and to allow a government —state, local, federal— to offer a pardon for a crime they committed on him is give them authority over him and his judgement.

Anyway, that’s just my knee jerk reactive thought. He sounded like a hero and thanks so much for showing us light and letting it burn brighter.