"Paradise Lost," Article in Washington Post Magazine

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Paradise Lost

By Michelle Boorstein
Sunday, December 18, 2005; Page W14

After years of hiding their love, Barbara Kenny and Tibby Middleton found a place where they felt comfortable being a couple -- until Virginia's lawmakers chased them across the Potomac.

... They don't want to leave, but they are convinced the state of Virginia has left them no choice.

Barbara and Tibby were watching television in their living room rocking chairs in the summer of 2004 when they heard the news they'd been dreading for months. A new law in Virginia had taken effect, called the Affirmation of Marriage Act. It declared that couples like them were not entitled to any of the benefits or protections that straight, married couples got.
....

[Lost-in-FL]

1. The irony of this all is that...

They, as all Americans, paid their taxes yearly. With this money, congress or state legislatures "passed" laws against them. If gays get together to do "gay pride parades" why don't they get together and say no to their exploitation. Why don't they say one day "Forget this, they will not discriminate against me with my tax dollars" and don't pay their taxes (civil disobedience?). Sorry if it sounds simplistic but they are exploiting you and you let them do this to you.

[MountainLaurel]

2. Was just getting ready to post this

An incredibly affecting piece. I fear that Virginia is only going to see more of this as time passes, which is a good thing. Show them what their institutionalized bigotry will get them.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Oops, sorry.

Just a matter of timing. We get the Sunday advertising, TV magazine, and Post Magazine with the Saturday papers. I had been trying yesterday to find this article on the Post website. It wasn't until today that I found it.

Thanks for writing.

[MountainLaurel]

5. No problem

:hi:

We too get the Sunday stuff with the Saturday paper. Or, at least we do when someone doesn't steal it. I'd guess that the Sunday items aren't made available on the Web site until Sunday morning, 'cause I've had that issue before.

[Rowdyboy]

3. What an excellent article but what a tragic ending....

They're just doing what they must do.

[closeupready]

6. Sad.

I've had gay friends who lived in places in the South, and you know what, no offense to any of our gay Southerners here, but I could never ever live in the South. I would probably sooner move back to my backwater where I came from.

[Meldread]

7. I know how they feel.

I live in Virginia as well. I'd love to get out, but I'm afraid to leave because I don't have enough money to just up and go. I also don't want to leave my family. I hate this place, it is so horrible. If any LGBT person ever thought of coming here my advice would be to just say no, and run away... run far away and don't look back.

[AlecBGreen]

8. Aw...VA is a great place!

Im so sorry youve had a rough time here...Virginia is such a beautiful place to live, although Im sure it can be intimidating for a gay person. Many of our gay brothers and sisters go to DC where they can lead a more "normal" life. I have to say though, if you ever come to my neck of the woods, I'd be happy to have y'all in my home. Stop by Winchester some time and say hi!

:hi:
-Alec

[Meldread]

9. I live about a bit over an hour south east of Richmond.

Let's put it this way, my town has one newspaper which is also the paper for some of the surrounding area. It's editor is virulently anti-gay, the paper is a right wing rag, and the only bright spot about it is that he actually publishes opposing opinions. (Although, he always has a little "Editorial Note" at the end, where he retorts against the person writing.)

I've only known one pro-gay person, he was a priest who supported the nomination of Gene Robertson and he left shortly after that became public. (It was sort of a scandal when he came out in support of him.) Three weeks went by with just horrific letters to the editor and not a single person stood up for him, so I decided to do that - because I couldn't stand the only other pro-gay person in my town to be flamed to hell and no one at least send SOME support. I sent a letter, and the day before it was published left town for fear of violent backlash. I returned a week later to thankfully find everything in tact except my mail box which was beaten down. Still to this day, although less often, it is beaten down occasionally and the police keep saying "there is nothing they can do".

I've written several other letters which have been published in the paper, but I didn't publish them under my name. I ghost wrote them and had a friend who lives in NC submit the letter to the paper, as they won't accept anonymous letters.

Gays are commonly referred to as "Children of Satan" and "Sodomites" by so-called Christians who send in letters. After the letter which was published under my name came out, the following week had an entire Church sign their name to a letter which was posted in the paper.

The Pastor left about three months later, by the way, he said his congregation had turned on him and said they "didn't feel comfortable with him around their children" anymore.

Yes, Virginia is a beautiful state, it is only marred by it's horribly ugly citizens.

[closeupready]

10. How nightmarish!!!!

I sometimes forget how "lucky" I am to live in NYC - which is ironic considering how physically ugly it is (at least by daylight - LOL).

[Rowdyboy]

11. Please tell me you're exaggerating.....I live in Mississippi and, even....

here gays aren't called "children of Satan" or "Sodomites" in LTTE's. If thats happening in a semi-civilized state like Virginia, the its really scary.

[Meldread]

12. Nope.

The southern part of Virginia - where 90% of my family is located - is filled with hard Right Conservative Christians.

They regularly rant about the lack of "God" in Government, how this is a "Christian Nation". They hate foreigners, and some have out right advocated the death penalty for gays. These people, they are viciously evil to their rotten core. If it weren't for my family, I'd have picked up (money or no money) and fled this place as fast as I could move.

These people around here are big time buyers into the Christian Reconstructionist Movement, and here is a little insight into their thoughts:

The Old Testament—with its 600 or so Mosaic laws—is the inflexible guide for the society DeMar and other Reconstructionists envision. Government posts would be reserved for the righteous, as long as they are male. There would be thousands of executions a year, with stoning a preferred method because it would turn the deaths into “community projects,” as movement theologian North has noted. Sinners in line for the death penalty would include women who commit adultery or lie about their virginity, blasphemers, witches, children who strike their parents, and gay men (lesbians, however, would be spared because no specific reference to them can be found in the Books of Moses). DeMar told me that among Reconstructionists he is considered something of a liberal, because he’d execute gays only if they were caught indulging in sodomy. “I’m happy to just drive them back into the closet,” he said.

You can read more about them here. Roy Moore is one of them.

...and if you think all that is bad, Harry Potter just better be glad he's a fictional character, else I believe these folks around here would have hunted him down. (Someone actually advocated, around Halloween, that people burn their Harry Potter books because, according to them, they promote Satanism.)

Reconstructionists are a small minority within the Christian Right, but they are largely it's pulse and heartbeat - they are at the core of their beliefs. It is where the Christian Right will inevitably lead if they are successful, it's where they want to take America. Here is the Wikipedia entry on them.

[thrift_store_angel]

14. Really it is.......

I live in southern Md in an area that borders southern Va. I refer to Va as "baby texas".

[Meldread]

17. Baby Texas. LOL.

:rofl:

[mahatmakanejeeves]

18. "Sodomites"

I used to hear that word used at the last place I worked. They fired me. It was not in Virginia.

[xchrom]

13. ah yes -- life in the 21st century.

suppresion of gay folk in individual states -- purges of gay folk in the catholic church -- etc.

[Uncle Zoloft]

15. From the Buckle of the Bible Belt

:evilgrin: :evilgrin: My partner and I live in SC ~ we've just loved fighting all the TheoNeoCons with their G_d damned "Protect Marriage Ammendment" Check out our state's GLBT site: www.scequality.org

[davidinalameda]

16. you have my deepest and welcome to DU!

:toast: