There he was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the Boss himself, the opening act on the night of the virtual inaugural ball.
His song was “Land of Hope and Dreams.” “Leave behind your sorrows,” he sang. “Let this day be the last. Tomorrow there’ll be sunshine and all this darkness past.” I got all weepy listening to Bruce Springsteen perform, especially with the Great Emancipator looking over his shoulder.
Still, if you’re part of an L.G.B.T.Q. family in this country, it was hard not to wonder if a more on-the-nose song for him to sing that night might have been his “One Step Up and Two Steps Back.” The “one step up” was self-evident.