Three more states we won't be moving to....

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Thursday November 06, 2008 · 6:33 AM PST

2008/11/06 · 06:33

In addition to the already thirty-odd states that currently discriminate in one form or another against gays and lesbians, as of last Tuesday we can add Arizona, Florida, and California. And Florida seems to take the prize as the most hate-filled of all. They managed to pass a new law that not only bans same-sex marriage, but also any form of civil union and any and all laws that would give equal rights to gays and lesbians. The Sunshine State...yeah. Not that we were planning on moving anytime soon. New Jersey has been in the forefront of protecting the rights of gays and lesbians for two decades. And with the addition last year of a somewhat flawed civil union law, we are quite content to stay.

But if we were thinking of moving our options are quite thin. And it seems that all of them are here in the northeast. That's okay, too. I love New England. But the cold cruel reality is that for tens of thousands of gays and lesbians, they don't have that luxury. For those who already live in those states where the neanderthals of the Christian (ironic term, don't you think?) right have transformed their fear and loathing of gays and lesbians into the law of the land, it is a bitter pill to swallow.

It is apparent that while we are, in fact, citizens of these United States, we are not equal under the law. And even though our new President-Elect included us in his moving and historic victory speech on Tuesday night, the reality is far different. Bigotry and discrimination has been codified into law across these very same United States. Gays and lesbians can still be fired without cause other than their sexuality. They can be denied housing. They can be denied jobs. And most importantly, they can and are denied the basic freedom to live their lives openly and without fear.

When so many Americans of every stripe are losing their jobs and their homes. When tens of thousands of our fellow citizens are facing poverty and homelessness, some so-called Christians have spent over 25 million dollars in the state of California, for the first time in the history of any state, to formally enact discrimination into it's constitution.

Jesus wept.

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