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...is alive and well in the USA.
I am trying so very hard to be calm here.
This is difficult to write, so please ignore the poor style and spelling.
I don't do well when my hands are shaking.
How can the "enlightened" people I have come to know at Pixies think such things.

If we (I am including gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered here) are so accepted why is "same sex marriage" such a huge political issue here? Why can someone refuse to rent to me and my female partner? Why are there so few women's bars nearby? (they keep having to fix the damage from the vandalism, it gets expensive)
Read internet postings. It seems the worst critique can be to label something "gay" "That is so gay" i.e bad.
Or to call someone a "fag" or "butch" or "dyke"

Explain to me why groups carry signs that say "God hates Dykes" and "God hates fags"?

Some of you may say maybe because I live in the South it is worse, but Matthew Shepard lived in Laramie, Wyoming. Teena Brandon lived in Nebrasksa. I think it is everywhere.
Imagine you can't hold hands or kiss another woman in public without causing a commotion, stares, maybe verbal or even physical abuse.

And then there's the Hate.
Demonstrations, beatings, and protests that include some of the most disgusting, vile, venom you might imagine.

Murders.
Teena Brandon, Juana Vega, Sakia Gunn, all well known in the lesbian community, all murdered because they were not "normal women".

There is a "church group" the westboro church that has been staging protests at miltary funerals, because they say God punishes American soldiers because America "lets" gays exist.

The next part is a quote from an article about this "church"

"The Westboro church says the First Amendment gives them the right to condemn gays and to interpret combat deaths as simply God's wrath against U.S. homosexuals.

“It is not okay to be gay,” said Shirley Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro church. “Those guys over there in Iraq, this nation has angered the lord their god and the wrath of god is poring out on them. God is dealing with this nation, and you can't do one thing to stop it or stop him from blowing those young people to pieces.”

It seems worse for the men. At least we are not AS frequently assaulted by strangers. I hear about "so and so got beat up" time and again.

But we (lesbian, bi women) are not safe.

One source states that sexual orientation, i.e anti lesbian and gay, hate crimes are the THIRD most common hate crime reported in the USA. (Only race and religion bias crimes are more common)
And the crimes increase in number. The Congress tried to pass a federal hate crimes law that included sexual orientation. Bush promised to veto it. It seems all we want is "special status"

All of you who believe there is little or no anti lesbian bias, respond here with a post and let me know how often you have walked in fear of attack because of who you sleep with.

One last statistic.

Almost 1/8 of all sexual orientation hate crimes are anti lesbian/anti female bisexual.

I am going to go sit and drink, and contemplate my "special class"

Linda