Sometimes my state disgusts me.

[Andy]

We have an excellent politician here in Oklahoma that has a great track record.  He's young and in my mind he'll probably the the governor of the state sooner rather than later.  The one problem: he's gay.  He's never hidden the fact and it's been used against him in every election he's run in.  Our state is so backwards.

http://www.okctalk.com/political-arena/7567-jim-roth-good-man-great-politician.html

[Fido]

It ain't just Oklahoma, Andy, so don't beat yourself up for the views of your fellow citizens.  Thanks for sharing this link, however, and for supporting good leadership regardless of the background of the person in question.  Let your voice be heard!

[Gilly]

Yeah, I don't think that would fly in any state. It's amazing that he's a rising star. Go Oklahoma!

[masterofsparks]

I live in Ohio, so if you want to talk about backwards, just say the word. Columbus is actually pretty progressive as a city (now that I think about it, Cleveland, the city that elected Dennis Kucinich mayor, is pretty liberal as well), but the rest of the state? Not so much.

[chrisfoll577]

Here in Massachusetts us limousine liberals have Congressman Barney Frank and formerly Gerry Studds (not exactly shining examples of homosexual monogamy... but as we've seen in recent years, a lot of heterosexual Reps haven't exactly been that stellar either).  Cambridge also had Jarrett Barrios who was a rising star on Beacon Hill until he gave up his seat for an arguably more powerful position as the president of the state's Blue Cross.  Besides all this there is still plenty of mistrust of homosexuals in Massachusetts public life as well, but I'd like to think that as more gay and lesbian politicians get elected, even staunch moralists will recognize competency over often imaginary fears.

[buffcoat]

NC had an openly homosexual guy run in the Democratic primary for Senate.  He lost, but aside from the beginning of the campaign it was never a big issue.

Of course, if he had had to run against the Republicans, we probably would have, uh, heard a little more about it.

Still, any progress is progress.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

New Jersey wins!