Here’s what Alabama’s House was busy doing today: Adding sexual orientation to a list of protected classes that cannot be discriminated against — and passing a resolution praising Miss California Carrie Prejean for her stance on denying gays their civil rights. Rational Thought: 1; Idiot Logic: 1.
Bruno
I was going to call for a boycott of Alabama by LGBTs until I read this. That’s a pretty strange day, and frankly I’m shocked by the protected class thing in a state like that.
Alec
@Bruno: Not that strange. When it comes to hate crimes, a lot of otherwise social conservative states protect gays, including Texas and Louisiana. I think KY and TN also have them; in TX they had to settle on “sexual preference” being the protected category; ironically, they passed their hate crimes statute while they still had a sodomy law targeting gay sex, in 2002, IIRC.
Bruno
@Alec:
It’s too bad these states can’t extend LGBT rights to protections at the workplace, too. Hopefully the nation ENDA will take care of all this anyway.
alan brickman
boycotts are wrong and they
don’t work..communication is still important…
Alec
@Bruno: I agree. I think that quite a few municipalities have done so in those states, but municipal restrictions on discrimination are of course more limited in geographic scope and damages.
I really hope they pass an ENDA with teeth, though. One that implicitly overrides part of DOMA, for domestic partnership benefits, would be ideal, although the last congress introduced a far more limited bill.
Landon Bryce
The math here is completely wrong. Legislation protecting gays in Alabama from discrimination? That’s at least 3 points for rational thought. And letting some idiots pass a meaningless resolution? That’s a 0.5 at best on the idiot logic scale, at least as far as meaningless resolutions. Some day Google how many of your tax dollars are spent annually passing resolutions that praise cheese.
Three cheers for Miss California! If passing this stupid, meaningless thing let pass some meaningful legislation, hooray for the Alabama legislature.
If not for the torture, I would be so happy with the news these days. I wish the meme would catch on that Jay Bybee is a Mormon. No talk of excommunicating him, of course. But all that effort and money on gay marriage in California.
Now that’s idiot logic. And an utter lack of morality.
Mark M
@alan brickman: A boycott IS a communication. They work great. Florida OJ? Coors?
Alec
@Landon Bryce: Nah. Legislation protecting gays in Alabama from discrimination?
More like, legislation making killing gay men and the transgendered, or raping lesbians, a more serious crime. Alabama isn’t “protecting gays…from discrimination.” New York didn’t even do that until 2002. Alabama is probably at least five years away from it (I’m being optimistic). No, queers still have it really, really awful in sweet home Alabama. How bad? Well, here’s some language from their constitutional amendment approved by 81% of the voters:
So if someone assaults you or kills you, Alabama ain’t that bad. For anything else, you’d better live in a way more tolerant state.
Landon Bryce
@Alec:
You must be working very hard to see no good news and no progress here. Yes, things are horrible for gays in Alabama. They’re better today, though, than they were yesterday. You see nothing to celebrate there and bitch me out for being happy about it? Whatever.
Alec
@Landon Bryce: Perspective. I’ll be the first to celebrate the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality, too, but come on. This is Alabama, where about 40% of the population voted against a repeal of their constitutional ban on interracial marriage in 2000. You really want to play pretend?
Steve
@Landon Bryce: I agree the resolution is meaningless. Most people don’t realize that legislative bodies at all levels routinely pass resolutions or proclamations praising somebody for something. If you want one, in most cities/counties/states, all you really have to do is ask nicely, and provide the text that can be used in the “whereas” clauses as reasons for the praise. It helps if the request comes from someone other than the person who is to be praised.
The fortunate thing in this is that we spend very little money on this stuff. The matte and frame are not included; paper and toner are inexpensive; they are usually voted in a group as one agenda item without debate; the staff person who prepares them is usually an intern or a volunteer.
Landon Bryce
@Alec: Alec, you;re the one who’s playing pretend here. Actual progress has been made to improve the lives of gay people in Alabama. Pro-gay legistaion of any stripe passed there is big new worth celebrating. You seem to think that I believe that this will magically change all the bigotry in the state. You do not seem to care at all about the actual gay people there whose lives have been made a little better. You seem not to be aware that it is a big deal for there to be any legislation passed there regarding gay people that is not bigoted in its intent.
Frankly, if you don’t see that, you don’t know enough about the situation to express an interesting opinion.
Alec
@Landon Bryce:
Actually, I live in a northern and rather gay unfriendly state (MI), so I do appreciate the significance of this legislation.
Still scraps, however you look at it.