When do I get to vote to deny civil rights to bigots?

There's a great column at the Huffington Post on what Thomas Jefferson would think if Group A was able to vote on whether Group B gets the same rights that Group A enjoys. It's theoretical in nature - but oh wait, it really happened.

The whole situation reminds me of a country club that gathers to select who gets to join and share the great honor of eating in their dining room off the good china. Americans - regular Americans - Real Americans - don't like that kind of elitist snob-knobbery - unless, of course, it involves The Gays.

The reason it's so easy for people to vote against gay rights is because either you are or you aren't gay - and if you aren't, you're safe. It doesn't matter if gays are denied the rights and privileges afforded to straight people, because more than likely straight people are still going to be straight tomorrow and for many years to come. The chances of turning gay and regretting tomorrow the vote they cast today is slim to none.

Now, it would be very different if there was an initiative to take away the rights of - I don't know - let's say philanderers. After all, you can be pretty sure you wouldn't cheat on your spouse, but what if... ? Would you be willing to take away rights now that you may want to have later? Even conservative moralists - see Jim Bakker, Gov. Sanford, et al. - can get caught up in forbidden passion. And they know it. And because of that, I can guarantee you that you won't see any ballot initiatives on morality - EXCEPT where that 'morality' concerns homosexuality and the rights of those most immoral of creatures - gay people.

Let's look at some of the groups that have more rights than gays and lesbians when it comes to marriage:Murderers, drug dealers, pedophiles, Michael Vick, hookers and pimps, rapists, terrorists, tax cheats, Bernie Madoff, politicians and other miscellaneous crooks and liars, degenerate gamblers, mafia hitmen...

I may be straight - but I'm a white woman married to an Asian man, and within my lifetime it was a crime for me to marry my husband because of his skin color. The same arguments were posited then against interracial marriage as they are now against gay marriage... and it's a shame and mindboggling that people are still there... I mean, duh!

My hope is that sooner than later, we as a country can remove the stain of this continuing societal sin and give our gay citizens the rights they deserve as humans, let alone Americans. I mean, seriously people - what makes us so much better than other countries when we vote to keep our brothers and sisters second-class citizens?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-alvear/what-thomas-jefferson-wou_b_342300.htmlThere is only one thing worse than voting to deny somebody their rights: Voting to give it to them.