"A gentleman accepts the responsibilities of his actions, and bears the burden of their consequences," William Faulkner wrote in his last years, "even when he did not himself instigate them, but only acquiesced to them, didn't say no, though he knew he should."

The line is from his last novel, The Reivers, written at UVA and later made into a passable movie starring Steve McQueen.

The book, published in 1962, earned Faulkner a Pulitzer, awarded posthumously, in 1963.

By 1963, of course, even the term "gentleman" was becoming an anachronism, even at UVA's coat-and-tie-clad, all-male College of Arts and Sciences.

Lying to mere "girls," we were taught, didn't "count" as an "honor" offense.

Thanks to "the pill," birth control, by 1968, had, for most, become the responsibility of the women in their lives.

"Gentlemen" lied to avoid military service, while parading as "patriots" and denouncing opponents of the war in Viet Nam.

And, as Kurt Vonnegut might put it, so it went, and "so it goes."

Much to the shame of good men everywhere courageous and outspoken women now appear to be the standard setters for what was once called "gentlemanly" behavior.

They have stood up and told the truth, often at tremendous cost to themselves.

They have dared to hold men to their word.

They have exposed and challenged not only unconscionable behavior but the hypocrisy surrounding it.

At press time Alabama voters are making a choice: to elect a Republican to the United States Senate who thinks homosexuals are criminals, that special insight into the mind of God (his own) trumps the U.S. Constitution, that non-Christians "have no right" to hold elective office; that America was "Great" before slavery was abolished, and that all amendments to the Constitution since the 10th should be rescinded. (That would include the abolition of slavery and voting rights for women, among others)

The GOP candidate is also, like the President who heads the GOP, an accused abuser of women.

None of that deters the hard supporters of disgraced judge Roy Moore, much as none of the accusations against (and actions of) of our current President affect his "base."

In moments of despair, one is tempted to lament that no one cares about the decay and disappearance of anachronisms like those once associated with "gentlemanly" behavior: good manners, restraint, respect for justice; and, yes, protection of women . . . though I would now qualify that notion to include protection of anyone in need of defense against people of ill will and great power, male or female.

Happily, a group of brave women has called men to stand up and be counted.

And more and more are doing so, including the senior Senator from Alabama.

He said "no."

Because he knew he should.

Let's hope that as you read this a majority of his fellow Alabamans has joined him.