Even Deep in Dixie, Gays Sense Acceptance

[CatWoman]

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - It's a Bible Belt state, almost certain to toughen its prohibition of gay marriage next month. A major candidate for governor has called homosexuality evil, and a national gay magazine branded Alabama the worst state for gays and lesbians. So why does Howard Bayless want to stay? Well, his roots are here, he says. So are his friends. He's partial to the congenial neighborhood in Birmingham that he and other gays helped rescue from decline.

"This is where I've carved out a niche for myself," says Bayless, who has spent most of his 40 years in Alabama. "We've created our community here, and I don't want to leave. I'd rather do the extra work of making my neighbors realize who and what I am."

Leader of Equality Alabama, a statewide gay-rights group, Bayless is one of many with the same conviction. In Mobile, Tuscaloosa and elsewhere, Alabama's gays and lesbians — like their counterparts throughout the U.S. heartland — are slowly, steadily gaining more confidence and finding more acceptance.

That doesn't mean relations between gays and other Americans are settled. Gay rights causes still endure their share of setbacks — amendments defining marriage as between one man and one woman have passed in 19 states and Alabama is poised to become No. 20 by an overwhelming vote on June 6.

But in the long view, there has been slow, powerful momentum building in the other direction: the quashing of anti-sodomy laws; the extension of anti-bias codes to cover gays; the adoption of domestic-partner policies by countless companies. Recent polls suggest opposition to gay marriage has peaked, and a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning it is expected to fall far short of the required two-thirds support when the Senate votes on it in early June.

"What Americans see increasingly is there's no negative impact on their own lives to have gays and lesbians living out in the open," said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign. "They go from an abstract idea to a real person with a real name and a real story. That makes all the difference."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060520/ap_on_re_us/gay_tide

[tsuki]

1. Good article. Thanks. nt

[Tsiyu]

2. Interesting article

Good catch.

Hope your Saturday is going nicely, CW! :hi:

[CatWoman]

3. It's hot as the blazes here

and I'm waiting for it to get a little cooler before I tackle my flower beds

:hi:

[Tsiyu]

7. Smart! That Georgia afternoon sun is brutal

We finished nailing the last board to our front paddock fence :woohoo: :bounce: (I finally got all the posts and board together that were laying around hither and yon - new weird neighbors and my crazy horses have motivated me) dodging thunderstorms for the last few days.

Here in TN it's mostly sunny, breezy and mild. Much better than the chilly, wet spring we've been having.

Stay cool in them petunias, Miss! :)

[rodeodance]

4. How to smack the RW for making this a mean wedge issue?

[Kerrytravelers]

5. I applaud those who are fighting the good fight.

Meanwhile, I'll stay here in my blue city, my blue county and my blue state and stay working in my blue profession. I do not have the patience to put up with the stupidity. I do, however, truly applaud those who are not surrounded in my comfy zone. You are the ones making the change on the ground, talking to Americans and working to change this country in ways that I am not. Thank you.

[misanthrope]

6. Wow!...

...Suzanne Cleveland and Charlie Smoke are friends of mine. I had no idea they were about to be famous!

[kweerwolf]

8. I think as "baby boomer" LGBTs age ...

... many are returning to smaller towns and more rural areas (where many of them grew up). They will constitute the next wave of gay acceptance. Meanwhile, after being exposed to gays and lesbians in the mainstream media, I think rural areas are starting to get more accepting. Granted, being "out" in a small town still carries risks, but the first steps have been taken.

I was frankly amazed when I went back to my 20th high school reunion as an out gay man several years ago. While some former classmates were a little uncomfortable, I didn't encounter any open prejudice. So many of us that grew up in rural areas couldn't wait to leave. We still remember our home towns as places that would be rejecting of us. Now, the tables have began to turn. Personally, I'm not ready to move back to a small town, but I'm glad some of us are pioneers.