Bubble Up!

I live in a bubble. A big, gay bubble. The town I live in is probably one of the gayest, if not the gayest, small town in the United States. We have a gay mayor, gay and lesbian city council members, gay and lesbian cops, and our main street is awash with gay bars, lesbian bars, gay businesses, and gay restaurants. You can walk around this town just gaying it up without concern that you're going to cause a scene. I didn't plan on living in this bubble. It was only coincidence that I bought a house here just before the big gay bubble enveloped us. Twenty four years ago this town was God's waiting room, mostly old folks. The cops were known for being tough and ill mannered. There was a gay bar here back then, but it catered to older gentlemen. Don't get me wrong, we do still have heterosexuals living here. We have the good ones who realized early on that when a town is taken over by gays, it becomes fabulous, and real estate values soar.

What is bothering me today is what is happening outside the bubble. In some African countries, the life we take for granted is considered a capital crime, death penalty stuff. In Russia and other eastern European nations repressive laws have been enacted making it a crime for somebody who is homosexual to simply exist in public. I don't understand it. I don't understand why people would want to turn back to the dark ages of humanity. We have made some big strides here in the United States over the last forty four years. I hope the fear mongers and haters don't ever have the opportunity to push back on those gains. You don't think it can happen here? Right now many states have taken advantage of the Supreme Court decision on the voting rights law. The "conservatives" are trying to make it tougher for poor people, college students, and others to vote, all in the name of protecting us from voter fraud. Basically something that has rarely happened is being used as an excuse to disenfranchise thousands of voters. If the manic minority can take over by suppressing the vote they then have an easy road to turning back all the gains made. They would have the means to burst my bubble.