WYOMING, of all places, has become a HOTBED of Gay Lovin' Cowboys!!

[Snoutport]

I must say that I am flat-out dumbfounded by what I have been seeing in Wyoming. In the middle of America, in the middle of a class war, the REPUBLICANS have come out swinging for better treatment of gay Americans. It is easy for politicians from the big city to support gay people...but several conservative Wyoming good old boys have shown me that there are changes happening in this country.

It still hurts when I think of what happened to Matthew Shepard on that cold Wyoming fence. But then I hear these words coming from the Republicans of Wyoming, and not just words but heartfelt soul searching and I know that things have changed. When Republican MEN in Wyoming are talking about gay issues in a positive light you KNOW that things are not what they used to be.

My hat is off to these gentlemen: Republican State Senator Cale Case: "Gays and lesbians live and work among us. They’re also soldiers in the military,”he said. “They’ve been here and talked about their service in Iraq and … now you’re going to deny them the benefits (of marriage of civil unions).”<...>

“When you go home, you’re going to look people in the eye,” he said. “You’re going to tell them you made them into second-class citizens today if you pass this. You can’t do that. We’re the Equality State" http://prideinutah.com/?p=9429

GOP's Alan Simpson: "Then you've got homosexuality," he continued. "You've got 'don't ask, don't tell.' We have homophobes in our party. That's disgusting to me. We're all human beings, we're all God's children. Now if they're going to get off in that stuff -- Santorum has said some cruel things, cruel, cruel things about homosexuals. Ask him about it. See if he attributes the cruelness of his remarks years ago. Foul." http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20053110-503544.html?tag=latest

These two spoke with their votes: "But state Sens. John Hines, R-Gillette, and Bill Landen, R-Casper, who cast the deciding votes against HB74 on Wednesday, said they opposed it because it didn’t guarantee same-sex couples access to Wyoming courts to get a divorce or for other disputes.
Hines and Landen had joined a majority of senators last month in approving a version of HB74 that included such a guarantee for gay couples in out-of-state civil unions." http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/govt-and-politics/article_70dd42f1-ba13-519b-b9a8-87c0922aff6e.html

Cheers people, have a great day!

[Taverner]

1. A lot of Republicans know they're on the wrong side of history

My guess is the homophobic tendencies will go away, given enough times, and given Phred Phelps does his part in showing just how fucking wrong they are.

Phelps is the posterboy for hate! The irony is that all that his protests have done is unite the rational among us, against him.

[fredamae]

2. These state lawmakers are True Small Gov't Conservatives

I applaud them. They also defeated a "big gov't conservative" horrific abortion bill there.

I'm thinking I might have to move to WY to find Freedom in America.

[Snoutport]

5. LOL... they do deserve credit. Stronger words from wyoming than washington!

I sent Case a thank you letter. I figured he was getting lambasted.

[yellowcanine]

3. Well Wyoming Territory did give women the right to vote in 1869.

This even beat out New Zealand (1893), the acknowledged pioneer on this issue among current independent countries. So maybe they are reverting to their progressive roots.

[Thunderstruck]

4. Great news from a state I once resided in.

[xchrom]

6. Ah yes - that's good - more 'tolerance' for us.

But it's still Wyoming - dangerous for us & they're still
Republican.

[Snoutport]

7. :0) 20 years ago this never would have happened.

So, it is a victory for civil rights. Change is a slow slow thing. But this is a good milepost in the struggle.