End sexual discrimination in W.Va. - SB238 needs our help

More details (0.00 / 0)

TODAY is the day to make this happen.

Here's what you can do:

First, call the Speaker Rick Thompson's office at (304) 340-3210 and ask the person answering the phone to deliver the message to support a full vote on Senate Bill 238. Be polite and courteous and to the point.

Second, contact members of the Rules Committee that are listed below. Tell them you support Senate Bill 238 and ask for a full vote on Senate Bill 238.

Brent Boggs (304) 340-3220
Mike Caputo (304) 340-3249
Ron Fragale (304)340-3114
Barbara Hatfield (304) 340-3140
Charlene Marshall (304) 340-3900
Jim Morgan (304) 340-3192
Brady Paxton (304) 340-3337
Mary Poling (304) 340-3265
Joe Talbott (304) 340-3116
Scott Varner (304) 340-3187
H. Keith White (304) 340-3230

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by: Clem Guttata @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 14:57:12 PM UTC

Pessimism takes over (0.00 / 0)

I have made all of the calls I can. I even came out on a local radio station in support of this bill. I put my job on the line by doing so, and Charleston is going to, once again, not even hold a floor vote.

Next year is an election year, and nothing controversial will get done. So why should I bother paying taxes to this State? Why should I continue living here? It's clear the powers-that-be in the House of Delegates would rather all gay people leave West Virginia, so maybe we should give them exactly what they seek.

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by: WV26003 @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 16:19:01 PM UTC

covered this ground before (0.00 / 0)

WV26003 - We've covered this ground before and I've got nothing new to add.

I hope some day West Virginia can make you proud. One day, the sooner the better.

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by: Clem Guttata @ Mon Apr 06, 2009 at 18:04:34 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

SB 238 is dead (0.00 / 0)

I just heard from the WV ACLU. West Virginia --- the "last place" you'd want to live.

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by: WV26003 @ Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 01:34:31 AM UTC

Thats a bit melodramatic don't you think? (0.00 / 0)

    I will first say that I believe you will find no better people on earth that the good folk of West Virginia.  They have big hearts and follow the ideology that people should live and let live as long as they keep in in their own homes.

   But lets face facts West Virginia has not exactly been a economic or metropolitan hot bed for the nation over the years.  That is good and bad in some ways.   Its allowed West Virginia to remain the charming friendly place it is where life moves at a slower pace.   But its also shielded the state from the progress of diversity.

  I mean come on now does anybody seriously want to make the argument that McCain won the state because West Virginians thought McCain / Palin were the best people for the Presidency? ................  Not a chance.   They took West Virginia because West Virginians in big numbers were not ready to vote for a black man.   Any old white Democrat could have taken the states vote in 2008 they were that fed up with the GOP..............  But not a black man.

  Now some will say ...............  oh my that is awful.  You mean to tell me West Virginia is a bigoted racist state? .............  I would say to them not true at all.  West Virginia is simply a closeted , protected from diversity state.  At last census the state remained over 95% white people.............   very lacking in diversity in this day and age.    But that was not intentional on the part of the people here its just the way its always been.

   Take heart folks .   West Virginia are good open minded people.  Leary of strangers though and distrustful of the government. I mean why shouldn't we be ? We are the only state the federal government ever tried to send bombs against at the coal mine wars on blair mountain.  Neither has the state forgotten the abuses we suffered because we supported the Union during the war between the states.   So good , big hearted fine West Virginia folk still follow the old mantra ............  live and let live and keep your personal business in your home. Thus the entire gay issue becomes a issue that should be private and kept in folks own home and nobody elses business . That is simply the West Virginia way.
   I predict though that if President Obama continues to do the fine job he has started to do until 2012 that West Virginians will come out in mass to vote for and make sure the state goes for Obama in the 2012 elections. Because white or black , gay or straight West Virginians appreciate hard work and ethics and President Obama has those.

   AS for the whole gay acceptance issue ..........  well all I can say is we have had gay bars in Huntington for 20 years.   Not a problem.   West Virginia folks know some hang that way and accept that.  But the old adage live and let live does not apply to making special laws to accommodate groups of people here. If I had to guess I'd say its going to be live and let live a long time yet in West Virginia and folks here just don't think that requires that motto be sat down in the laws.

   Now for some I know that does not set well.   But change in the way people think happens over time and is not instantaneous.................   Just like we should not condemn Muslim cultures because they haven't liberated all their women over night. Neither can we expect the good people of West Virginia to change over night.

  But I will say this most people in West Virginia are more than happy to vote for progressive Democratic causes................  But push for things they simply aren't sure goes along with their own personal morality and you lose them in a hurry and you will get what happened in 2000 and they will vote for a idiot like Bush.  

  A warning to the wise.  
   

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by: wvpeach @ Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 19:29:10 PM UTC

serious question here... (4.00 / 1)

Do you think that West Virginia is seen as a "charming friendly place" by most minority groups?

That's certainly not the impression I got talking to folks in other states during the Democrats primary season when Appalachian bashing was in full swing on the national news. I spoke with more than one gay/black who was afraid to come volunteer in West Virginia.

Heck, I know plenty of whites who act like Deliverance and Deer Hunter were documentaries shot in West Virginia (even if they were actually set in GA and PA, right?).

I'd say overall I'm just not sure that "charming friendly place" is a universally held image of the state.

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by: Clem Guttata @ Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 20:26:27 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well Clem your right. (0.00 / 0)

   But then again that idea that WV is a bigoted state is just another form of discrimination when you think of it.

  Some in the nation think west virginia is full of welfare folk................  Poor toothless boogers and nobody here is educated.  But like all forms of discrimination that form is going away with time about the state.

  For instance I have three kids two of which went to marshall .  They went to high school near Cincinnati OH.  Several of their friends came to Marshall with them and several of their friends went to WVU. ............  Now most are back in Cinci or other places in the world but they love to come back to West Virginia for Gauley fest and to party at Marshall or WVU..............   And the two fellows who went to WVU are black fellows .

   So ending discrimination takes time and education .

   Trust me as one old enough to have tried to put a end to racial discrimination..............  Trying to outlaw it does very little good.   WE outlaw drugs and murder but both are still happening.  

  You can only change peoples minds with time, experience and education. ...............   Acceptance and Love help too..................   Face to face with people you often get what you give.

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by: wvpeach @ Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 03:25:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]