Except from Virginia House Bill 751

Mary, I can only tell you what I would do if we lived in Virginia.

If my state past a law like this, we would not stay for these reasons:

1) Safety. I would feel unsafe living as an openly gay man (and us, as an openly gay couple) in a state that felt that way about us. How many nut cases are going to hear about this and think that it's open season to go after gays?

2) Taxes. I don't want to support anything that supports discrimination towards me or my family. Recently, Foot Locker fired a man for being gay. They are now on my boycott list until they make it right. They have made no effort to do that. I will never go there again. It's the same way with a state. The gay people in Virginia pay state taxes that go right to Virginia, a state that is now treating them like second-class citizens. Why should we support that? I would move out of the state to keep my money from supporting them in any way.

3) It's important to make a statement that we will not support or tolerate discrimination. Don't just leave the state out of protest. Make the state aware that you are leaving and tell them why. If enough people do this, at least the state will know the economic impact, not to mention the publicity of what is happening. And it wouldn’t even hurt to tally up all the things you bought in the state over the last year if you have that information to come up in how much you paid in state tax on purchases, if the state has a tax on items.

Just before you move out, I would write a letter to my state representative, the Governor, and as many newspapers as possible. Let it be known that the state is loosing people because over this. They may not care that they are loosing gay people because of this because they have shown that don't care for their gay citizens, but they will care about the revenue that they are loosing.

Also, send me a copy. I'll be happy to post it in as many places on the web as I can, starting with my own site.

I'm sorry this is happening to my brothers and sisters in Virginia. In time, I hope it will improve there. In the meantime, I would leave the state and move somewhere that valued me as a person.

Wonder if my gay freinds will visit me anymore in Virginia? I know of 2 couples who have moved out of the commonwealth because of this. Can you blame them? My gay brother is looking for property to start a retirement business on here in Virginia. Maybe I should move to another state with him. Makes me sick and ashamed that I wasn't aware of this sooner.

Makes me want to go visit right away...