And I thought California Prop 8 was bad. Arkansas voters approved this piece of drivel last night:

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:

Section 1: Adoption and foster care of minors.
(a) A minor may not be adopted or placed in a foster home if the individual seeking
to adopt or to serve as a foster parent is cohabiting with a sexual partner outside of
a marriage which is valid under the constitution and laws of this state.
(b) The prohibition of this section applies equally to cohabiting opposite-sex and
same-sex individuals.

Section 2: Guardianship of minors.
This act will not affect the guardianship of minors.

Section 3: Definition.
As used in this act, “minor” means an individual under the age of eighteen (18) years.

Section 4: Public policy.
The public policy of the state is to favor marriage, as defined by the constitution and laws
of this state, over unmarried cohabitation with regard to adoption and foster care.

Section 5: Finding and declaration.
The people of Arkansas find and declare that it is in the best interest of children in need
of adoption or foster care to be reared in homes in which adoptive or foster parents are
not cohabiting outside of marriage.

Section 6: Regulations:
The Director of the Department of Human Services, or the successor agency or agencies
responsible for adoption and foster care, shall promulgate regulations consistent with this
act.

Section 7: Prospective application and effective date.
This act applies prospectively beginning on January 1, 2009.

Not only is this a thinly-veiled attack against the rights of LGBT families to raise children, it’s an attack on the quality of life of children as well. How can anybody honestly believe that growing up with two (or more) loving, caring people who happen to be in a non-traditional relationship is worse for a child than growing up in a broken home or an orphanage? It’s completely ludicrous.

I cannot believe California passed Proposition 8. Beyond my stance on marriage which I’m sure most of you know (if not, the gist of it is that in my opinion, the word “marriage” is one of overwhelmingly religious connotation, and as such should be stricken from the word of law. Marriages should be left to the church; let lawmakers worry about households and civil unions), the fact that five million people in an overwhelmingly liberal place like California can vote to restrict the fundamental rights of others just boggles my mind. It’s like Jim Crow all over again.

There is absolutely no reason on this earth any two people who choose to cannot set up a household and receive the same benefits by law that any other two people receive. If you don’t want to call it marriage, that’s fine, but denying the financial and legal benefits is a slap in the face to people in this country who work hard to build a family and make a life for themselves, and is something needs to be rectified immediately.

I saw a comment earlier today on Facebook that I find entirely appropriate for this situation: “A closed mind is a wonderful thing to lose.”

This is the saddest thing I have heard in a very long time:

(CNN) — The Dallas, Texas, school district laid off hundreds of teachers Thursday to avoid a projected $84 million deficit.

[...]

The district laid off 375 teachers and 40 counselors and assistant principals Thursday, and transferred 460 teachers to other schools within the district.

Read the full article at CNN.

What makes this worse is that I’d make a fair bet that the majority of those teachers are art, music, and other “non-essential” subjects. What I want to know is, how do you make an error like that and still have your job? Sickening. Because of somebody’s math error, these students are going to suffer for the rest of their lives.