Is This the Way We Really Want Things in America?

Fears of a gay “brain drain” over Wisconsin’s pending vote on banning same-sex marriage, and the lack of partner benefits for gay employees of state institutions, may be starting to come to fruition.

Rob Carpick, an associate professor of engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher who has won millions of dollars in grants for his research in the field of nanotechnology, is leaving for the more gay-friendly University of Pennsylvania.

He takes with him the funding - some $3.4 million in grants from the National Science Foundation, branches of the U.S. military and private companies since 2000.

“After six and one-half years of working very hard, I found it’s problematic to work in an environment where you are not treated equally,” Carpick, 37, told The Associated Press. “Fortunately there are other entities that are more enlightened than the state of Wisconsin on this issue and the University of Pennsylvania is one of them.”

Caprick married his longtime partner Carlos Chan in Canada in 2003. The marriage is not recognized in Wisconsin and the couple is not eligible for spousal benefits.

To get health insurance Chan, a chef, took a menial job at the university.

At the University of Pennsylvania Caprick will be able to get domestic partner benefits and Chan will be able to open a small restaurant and not worry about health insurance. (source)

I’ve thought a bit about this over the last few months, off and on. There is a whole bunch of people, myself included, that feel that if the state you are in is putting up barriers to your happiness, move to a state that will help you be the most you can be.

There is still a lot of discrimination in the United States for gay citizens. And, among the different states, what gay people can and can not achieve in terms of more equality, is all over the board. The southern states are generally the worst places to live for gays, as is the mid-west. California seems more tolerable, and time will tell where Washington State will end up. Idaho is set, from last I heard, to pass an amendment outlawing gay marriage in November.

In the East, things seem a bit more hospitable. In Connecticut, we have a law banning the firing of gay people based solely on their sexual orientation. And with a Civil Union, we are eligible for health benefits on the same policy, if you can stand the idea of being in a civil union (my baggage).

So, it would seem, as in the example above with Rob Carpick, gay people and their partners are traveling much more these days in an effort to find a better and more fair existence for themselves. Many will say that this is “federalism” at it’s best - you don’t like the way one state runs things, then move to another state. In other words, each state has a right to determine their own laws. I can understand that.

Yet, I can’t seem to reconcile myself with the notion that the reason that people are moving around is to avoid the bigotry and prejudice that exists in those states. Isn’t there something wrong with simply dismissing the notion of discrimination by saying, “you don’t like it here, move”? Each state can have it’s own flavor and it’s one environment. But isn’t there something inherently wrong with the reasoning of, “We discriminate against your kind in this state. We are damn proud of that because we don’t like your kind. If you don’t like being treated like this, then move.”

Somehow, that just seems well, un-American to me. Or, maybe it is American, and we as a nation, just general suck when it comes to fairness? Or do we as a nation really care about fairness when it comes to the minority I happen to be a member of? We should at least be honest about it.