This idiot from Rochester Hills is my least favorite kind of fellow Republican. I am for small government, less involved in our lives. While I am not a huge fan of "protected status" and "hate crimes" laws [[long discussion I am not trying to start here), this is purely politcal grandstanding. Most conservatives I know [[self included) are fairly live and let live. I am not strictly libertarian [[I will never agree with legalized prostitution or hard drug use), but I do think most people are okay with most other people if you aren't hurting anybody. This guy clearly wants to court the small number of actually anti-gay people [[believe it or not, it's even a small number of Christian conservatives). Most gay people are not single-issue voters in most cases, but he might just succeed in convincing every gay person in his district to vote against him in November, even if they agree with him on taxes and other issues. Hopefully this bill goes nowhere.

I would actually be for not allowing domestic partner benefits if gay marriage were legal in Michigan [[I don't think the state should be committed to paying for benefits for people if their partner isn't committed enough to marry them). But that position is predicated on legalizing gay marriage.

Gay rights issues are strange in our world. On the one hand, gay people are very successfully integrated into most communities, most families, the media, places of education and employment, etc. On the other hand, there are people who just refuse to accept a gay relationship as legitimate and equal to a straight relationship. In no respects are the challenges we face similar to overcoming Jim Crow laws. And I think that makes it harder to overcome them. I do think things are getting much better. This state senator appears to everyone to be outside the mainstream; 20 years ago he was mainstream. By the 1970's, Orville Faubus and his ilk were not supported by anyone significant in the political world; this guy will end up that way. When a gay kid gets picked on in school now, his tormentors are more likely to end up ostracized than the victim is. That's a good sign. I try in life not to focus on the jerks and idiots here and there, but think about the kids who can safely come out in high school, gay soldiers respected by their peers, and straight guys comfortable walking into a gay bar to grab a drink.