In the 17 different state legislatures that have voted on an anti-gay constitutional amendment since 2005, none of the 670 legislators who voted against discrimination lost because of their stand when they next faced voters. The states involved were: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virgina and Wisconsin.The study examined elections starting in 2005.
Many legislators understandably fear that they won't get reelected or be elected to higher offices if they stand for equality. The study shows that that fear is misplaced, that they "have nothing to fear but fear itself".
Cross-posted at Blue Mass Group.
Dallas County has overturned it's 14-year ban on the county passing out condoms at the county's expense. From the Dallas Voice's blog:
With Republican Maurine Dickey joining Democrats Jim Foster and John Wiley Price, the Dallas County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 Tuesday morning to overturn a 14-year-old ban on county health workers distributing free condoms in high-risk neighborhoods.Republican Commissioners Kenneth Mayfield (pictured above) and Mike Cantrell, both of whom supported the ban in 1995, voted against overturning it, saying they feared it could lead to condoms being distributed in schools. But Dickey, who wasn't on the court in 1995, said she was more concerned about the high cost of treating people with HIV/AIDS.
According to a report prepared by the county's Health and Human Services Department, which recommended overturning the ban, the lifetime cost to treat someone with HIV is more than $600,000.
"I think we need to put the taxpayers first," Dickey said. "If we prevent two people from getting AIDS in Dallas County, we will have saved over $1 million of the taxpayers money." ...
And hey, save two lives in the process! That's pretty important too, right? 
I know, I know. I'm sure the commissioners who voted for the measure were actually thinking about people's lives too, but I hate that often saving people's lives is often a backseat argument to dollars and cents arguments. Call me an idealist:
Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.
--Martin Luther King Jr.
But hey, a ban on passing out condoms was repealed, and that repeal of that horrible ban will no doubt save lives -- that's a really good thing. Kudos to the Dallas County Commissioners for doing the really good thing. 
After sticking a fork in the eye of gay rights advocates by actively supporting Proposition 8 -- which overturned the legalization of gay marriage in California -- Warren compounded their outrage by equating gay marriage with incest in an interview with Beliefnet.Yes, he pokes Gene Robinson in the eye. Man this is balls. What was in the invitation? (via Christianity Today):The hubbub lulled down a little over the holidays but today, he's back, with an open invitation to any group displaced by their denomination. This is code for Episcopal congregations that oppose that church's acceptance of a gay bishop in 2003.
[The Episcopal Church has] already considered me an adversary after partnering on projects with Kolini, Orumbi, and Nzimbi, and writing the TIME bio on Akinola.The gloves are off, bigot. Does the ever-trusting Melissa Etheridge still think her new BFF is still sincerely reaching out? Just askin'.But since last summer... I've been on Gene Robinson and other's attack list for my position on gay marriage. ....[Our] brothers and sisters here at St. James in Newport Beach lost their California State Supreme Court case to keep their property.
We stand in solidarity with them, and with all orthodox, evangelical Anglicans. I offer the campus of Saddleback Church to any Anglican congregation who need a place to meet, or if you want to plant a new congregation in south Orange County.
Related:
* The Blend's Rick Warren files
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