It's not just immigration: Arizona update

Arizona's immigration law empowers police to demand citizenship documents of any "suspicious" individuals. Based on how the same policies play out in Sheriff Joe Arpaio's district, Hispanics (legal or not) can expect harassment, detention, and disruption for "breathing while brown".

But this isnt the only wingnuttery that Arizona is engaged upon. Did you know that scarcely a year after former Gov Janet Napolitano approved DP benefits for state workers, the new governor deleted them? And this rescission also included the children of GLBT couples. The Governor says she did this because of her belief in God.

The head of the Interfaith Alliance wrote,

Governor Brewer, why would you choose to take away benefits from domestic partners?  This certainly is not upholding the vision of our founders, who believed that practitioners of religion should not impose their beliefs on our civil society.  Additionally, your action signals disrespect for the thoughtful leadership of Governor Napolitano.  These state employees deserve better.  As a minister who believes that faith should be the best friend of equal rights for all people and a citizen concerned about a violation of the Constitution, I urge you to both rethink the legislation, now in legal review, and the mindset that it appears you have applied to this important matter.

It is unlikely that this is the last question related to domestic partner benefits that you will face.  I trust that you will revisit some of the core tenets of our Constitution – equality of all people and the clear boundary between government and religion – as you deal with this issue moving forward.  If you do, I believe you will conclude that domestic partners, as equal citizens, deserve the same benefits as all other Americans.

So the wingnut fringe of Arizona , which appears to be in the ascendent, hates Hispanics and hates gays. They are going after ethnic studies classes now, which they claim promote "resentment" in brown people. They have a streak of "birthers" among them, so I suspect they aren't so happy with the guy in the White House either. (Remember Arizona also resisted making Martin Luther King day a holiday). I love the state; it's beautiful and has a lot to offer. But common sense has been replaced by racist innuendo and fringe politics. Arizona doesn't want "our kind" there whether we are GLBT, Latino, and/or African American. I hear ya loud and clear, 'zonies.