Dear Arizona

To all of the folks in AZ that support the recently-passed anti-GBLT bill: proponents of this bill say that this defends religious freedom. This bill would allow them to deny access to persons in the GBLT community to businesses if somehow someone else's sexual preference violates the business owners religious beliefs.  I want to know where this discrimination stops.  I worry about this not just because I'm an ally to the GBLT community, but because this has personal ramifications for me if legislation like this becomes the norm.

In my albeit short life, I have encountered people that still believe that it's immoral for people of different races or ethnicities to get married. As a result of a mixed-race marriage, bills like this could one day allow someone to deny me access to businesses simply because of who and what I am. Taking this a step further, what if it is against someone's religious beliefs for a woman to go into a store by herself? Or against someone's beliefs to allow women and men to take classes together?

Let's spin this a different way: If we were to create legislation that required everyone to shave their head because a small segment of the population believes that you need to have a shaved head in order to be morally clean enough to go out in public, these same people that support the anti-GBLT bill would be up in arms, calling for revolution.

While I don't agree with these philosophies or beliefs, I don't think that it should be illegal for someone to have them. However, I do have a problem with someone legislating their beliefs so that people that do not hold the same set of religious values must abide by them. I support people's right to believe in whatever they want to believe, but I think it is wrong for them to force other people to live by their religious rules.

I devoutly hope that one day we as a nation create legislation that expands the rights and freedoms of others rather than denying access to people that are different.  This country has the potential to be so much more than it is, but the narrow-minded beliefs of a small, but powerful, segment of the population is holding us back.  This country would not have the innovative spirit and drive without the incredible variety of people and experiences that are brought to the table.  It is my dream that one day we will embrace this diversity and become an example for the rest of the world to follow rather than regressing and giving in to the few that desire for our society to become nothing more than herd animals, blindly following a few powerful individuals.

Online Dating Revisited

So I haven't checked my online dating profile for about four months. Today I got a new notification that someone had sent me a message. This seemed odd to me since I had originally thought that I had deactivated my account AND I remembered changing my status to "in a relationship."  Anyhow, apparently this is what I've been missing: