The far right strikes again in Tennessee:
Rhea County commissioners unanimously voted to ask state lawmakers to introduce legislation amending Tennessee’s criminal code so the county can charge-homosexuals-with crimes against nature. “We need to keep them out of here,” said Commissioner J.C. Fugate, who introduced the motion. County Attorney Gary Fritts also was asked by Fugate to find the best way to enact a local law banning homosexuals from living in Rhea County.
Don’t hold your breath for any establishment fundamentalists to rebuke them. So much attention has been paid to the handful of places that have advanced gay civil rights in the last few months that the tidal wave of anti-gay legislation being proposed and passed across the nation – pioneered by Republicans – barely merits notice. One state – just one – has moved toward establishing equality in marriage for gays. Thirty-eight have banned it outright. A few have re-written their constitutions to ensure inequality for gay citizens. Virginia, to take one example, is in the midst of a full-scale anti-gay legislative pogrom – banning gay marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships and attempting to revivify the sodomy laws. The Bush administration, for its part, has now come out of its own closet. It’s in the forefront of attacks on gays, with Karl Rove leading the brigades, urging activists to keep up the pressure on writing anti-gay discrimination into the constitution itself. During the internal debate on the constitutional amendment, gay Republicans were shut out completely. The administration is also busily reneging on its promise not to roll back federal protections for gay government employees. No one can spin this attack on gay employees as a response to “judicial activism.” It’s pure animus, directed and supported by the fundamentalist right. I have to say that I have been culpably naive about this administration on this issue. They led me to believe they weren’t hostile to gay people, that they would not use anti-gay sentiment to gain votes, that they would not roll back very basic protections for gay federal employees. I was lied to. We were all lied to. But now we know.
The Dish 