Bush's reelection was obviously the worst thing that happened on November 2. But I was braced for that. The result I actually took the most personally, or felt more disappointing, was the passage of Michigan's Proposal 2 – one of the many bigoted, gay-hating Amendments. I had to go to work the next day and see my coworker try and keep a brave face after two-thirds of her fellow Michiganders made clear their hate/fear of her and legislated her a second-class citizen. I am just so completely ashamed that our society feels the need to so personally rebuke and reject a segment of the population and go out of its way to legislate discrimination.
There's a whole story that unfolded over the last week about a Republican lawmaker (from a town called Gaylord of all places! Suppose that might keep him up nights?) who wanted to start pushing this crap right away. He wants the State to remove from an already negotiated labor contract a provision for same-sex partnership benefits for state workers. I wanted to write about this all week, but I was too busy. Kevin Drum beats me to it. (Andrew Sullivan also started on this, but he stupidly referred to this as an Ohio issue. Get your shit together, you of all people, Andrew.)
Well, it's over before it even got started. Governor Jennifer Granholm, the supposed "bright, rising star in the Democratic Party", caved after one day and axed the benefit.
Pushing for this kind of [bullshit] erosion of any semblance of minority rights was inevitable after the passage of the Proposition, and the Governor likely faced an eventual court loss under the new "law of the land," but I don't understand her rationale for rolling over so quickly. Just once I want to see a Democrat face some heat and fight for something just because it's the right thing to do, even if it's hopeless.
This might turn out to be some brilliant political jujitsu that Granholm uses to surprise me and everyone else with. Let's hope so. But from where I sit right now, she caved at the first chance. I have no use for that shit. Screw her.
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