If the anti gay forces get their way

What would a country without gays look like? Oh, I know the usual stereotypical stuff such as hairdressers and interior decorators who else would we lose? Try inner city teachers for one. Don't believe me? Go to any gay bar in a big city. You are quite likely to meet a teacher. The ranks of teachers in big cities has a higher than average percentage of gays and lesbians than the population as a whole. This is hardly an irrational or new phenomina. Most gays, at least until quite recently, didn't have kids of their own. Add in the fact that cities have historically been vastly more friendly to gays and you have a great relationship. How easy do you think it would be to replace say one fifth of the inner city teaching workforce?

What about a country without linguists? We have already, both times before a gulf war, lost over half of our Arabic translators. When my brother served in the navy he figured about half of the corpsmen were gay. While a stereotype the male nurse is fairly common. Want to replace some nurses? Lots of luck.

Nixon one famously said we didn't have him to kick around anymore. Sadly for the country he wasn't telling the truth but one day, in the not too distant future, a large number of our states may well not have gays to kick around anymore.

In the second largest state of the union, home to over one in 20 citizens of the US, gays veterans have been invited to leave. In the fourth largest state gays have been told to forget about adopting. In close to 20 states we can't marry and in over half of those we can't even have marriage like benefits.

This are changing. Places like MA, CT, NY, Spain, Canada, and others are giving us options we didn't have even 10 years ago. We might well take the advice of Perry. God help Texas school children if we do.

you have to do to be safe and happy and have a fulfilling life. I for one think this country would lose a lot of it's color, a lot of it's talent, a lot of it's heart and I would lose my best friends. But, if I were you I would not hesitate if that is your desire because I am not certain it will be better for quite a while.

Everyone should be able to pursue the things that will make them the happiest.

Go into the average human service agency and you'll find a high percentage of gay and lesbian people. Trust me, I've been in the field for 18 years, I know.

It probably is similar to the dynamic in teaching.