First the new Virginia governor rescinds the protections on GLBT state employees, and claims that he will not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Perhaps he will not, you never know, but I am more than confident that the Christianists and straight up homo-haters throughout the commonwealth are more than ready to discriminate at will.
Second, the GOP controlled Virginia House of Delegates killed not one, but two bills that would have offered protection to GLBT Virginians (both state workers and the general population). I suppose they were tired of the gays pushing for those "special rights."
Finally, the new Attorney General has gone out of his way to let state colleges and universities know that they have no legal basis for offering protection to GLBT workers (thanks again to the House of Delegates), and that they should rescind the protections that they have in place.
I've heard that there are some gay Republicans I know who seem cool with this. To that, I say that I will never understand. But I will also say, and call it hyperbole if you like, that there were slaves who were convinced that they were separate and apart from their fellow slaves, because they seemed to have the master's favor, until they didn't have the master's favor.
There is nothing wrong with the argument that we are more than our sexual orientation or racial identity. Too true. But, there is something wrong with gleefully supporting the policies of a political party that at the moment is singling out the GLBT community, as is happening in Virginia. Perhaps some have assurances from political cronies that all will be fine. Trust and believe that those assurances given would disappear with the quickness, if those cronies were forced into a choice between protecting their gay friends from discrimination and self preservation.
I am very sad for Virginia right now, but I hope that I will be proven wrong. I hope that we will not see discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in Virginia. We'll see.
UPDATE (3.10.10): I wonder how many business types in VA said something to McDonnell.
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Have you ever noticed how some of the most elite communities back up to some derelict towns. Maybe it's backing up to a county line, some power lines, or a railroad embankment, but usually as you approach the pinnacle of wealth, you find closely, as the crow flies, blight.
Could the same not be true of acceptance and equality? With D.C. being the current hotspot of gay marriage just over the bridges from Virginia, could this flare up of selective exclusion have resided anywhere else?
Marriage for all consenting adults is the removal of one more "entitlement of superiority" frequently reserved for a select group.
This was the group which didn't want slaves freed. This was the goups which didn't want anything but white men to vote, or at least make sure only white men got one vote, and not a fraction thereof. This is the group which did not want women to vote. This is the group which did not want intergrated schools. This is the group which did not want inter-racial marriage. This is the group which did not want women to decide their own reproductive rights. This is the group which today, does not want homosexuals to enjoy the benefits of marriage.
The theme is always based on this one group knowing better, their keeping something from another group, and their legislating the status quo so as to ensure their condescending superiority in black letter law.
Tokenism is all the concession this group will ever make, and that's been more for the flag waving and putting forth select examples to pacify the many.
So, as you look around, realize this, the poverty of our republic is in the quiet middle, which allows the self-enamored (be them racist, mysogynists, homophobes, or some combination of all three) to peddle the poison of hate and implied righteousness of their blatantly discriminatory practices.
The crow hasn't far to fly to find disparity of unequal treatment around the Potomac river, within California, amongst the states bordering Iowa, or in the New England region.
It is time both the group perpetuating these frauds of reasoning and their patterns of deceit, which need to be clearly identified and labeled as both unjust and untollerable.
The United States must move forward toward a more equal union, and do so most especially at the expense of those caught up in the hubris of their religious privelege of being.
I'm just sayin'...
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