I met a young man on Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, Conn. who asked me if I had a moment for gay rights. Why yes, I do, I said as I presented him with my card for “The Games Men Play” series and blog and told him about “Water Music,” the first novel in the series, about four gay athletes and how their professional rivalries color their personal relationships with one another.

I’m sure my sales pitch was not what he wanted to hear as he had one of his own. He was trying to sign up people for the Human Rights Campaign, which seeks equal rights for the LGBT community. Right now, he said, it’s still legal in 29 states to fire someone on the basis of homosexual orientation. That’s appalling, I thought.

But I didn’t sign his petition.