and on a positive note...

Two weeks ago, the House passed an amendment to the federal hate crimes legislation (vote: 223-199), which "adds actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and disability to federal hate crime laws."

And Rep. Tammy Baldwin's response (which almost makes me wish I lived in Wisconsin...almost...) :

“Gays and lesbians should not have to live in fear anywhere in the United States of America,” said Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), one of three openly gay members of Congress and the only lesbian. “Today's vote is significant both substantively and symbolically, reminding us, as Dr. Martin Luther King did, that, ‘the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice'.”

:)