Dear Elli,
I was on Facebook this week. Shit, who am I kidding? I'm on Facebook every week.
Anyway, this week appears to be the week for backward politicians to push their backward agendas. On two separate occasions this week, my Facebook friends have brought this fact to my attention. I could probably have also read the news to learn these things, but I'm far too busy on Facebook. Apparently, it has become acceptable to reintroduce the ideas of discrimination and segregation to the law books in some states. And by some states, I mean Kansas and Arizona. Yes, I totally just put that out there. I'm sure Kansas and Arizona will hate me now. If those states were on Facebook, they would never like any of my status updates and they might even unfriend me. As you can see, I'm taking a very big risk here. This is some serious shit.
On a side note, neither one of these states will actually enact these laws. In fact, if either of them are signed into law I will go streaking through downtown Cleveland. That's how confident I am. However, the point of this discussion is that they tried, and actually got far enough to make headlines with this nonsense.
So the premise behind these potential laws is that wholesome, God-fearing people should have freedom from doing business with people who freak them out. People whose behavior, lifestyle, practices, etc. somehow interfere with their religious belief system.
I'm simplifying. But at the end of the day, that's essentially what we're talking about.
So what do you think? How's that sound to you? I'm sure you're shocked, but I'm going to tell you how that sounds to me.
It sounds like the door to lawful discrimination and segregation is cracked again, and Jackie Chan is ready to karate kick it off the hinges. Assuming, of course, that the door is comfortable doing business with a Buddhist. If not, we may have to substitute him for Sylvester Stallone, assuming Roman Catholics don't interfere with the door's religious belief system.
Did you notice that I said "again" when referring to lawful discrimination and segregation? That's because it's happened before. This isn't our great nation's first rodeo on that topic. America used to do this to black people. They did it for a really long time. And it sucked. So we stopped. So let's ramp it up again, America! Fantastic idea! Only this time, let's call it "religious freedom". Because that sounds much classier.
Up until now, I've purposely avoided the "G" word, because it should be irrelevant. And by "G" word, I mean gay. These gay folks have been on a rampage lately, wanting to get hitched and all. It's totally freaking people out. So common sense tells us this is the reason for these proposed laws. This is the counter strike. Rush Limbaugh's people are having a tea party, and they aren't f-ing around!
So gay people are the ones who are essentially being targeted by these "religious freedom" bills. Because gay people totally freak some people out. I'm serious. Totally not joking. There's something about being gay that just pisses people off. I think it's because the gay people got all the sexy, sensitive men on the planet. And they also got Ellen DeGeneres. Those bastards!
On a serious note and to finally get to my ultimate point, it's OK to be freaked out sometimes. That's normal, although it might be nice to try to expand your mind a little here and there.
However, it's not OK to make someone lawfully inferior to anyone else, whether you're freaked out or not. That is not America. That is not how we behave. That is not how I behave. And that is not how you behave.
Because teenagers totally freak me out. And in 9 years, you're going to be a teenager. That said, I will (although sometimes hesitantly) still do business with you, even though you will totally freak me out. Mostly because I'm your mother, but also because I'm an American! And I will NOT discriminate against teenagers!
I will always love you. Even when you're a teenager. As long as you don't act like a backward politician from Kansas or Arizona.
Mom
Comments