I know, two entries tonight. I'm on a roll. :P

THE GOOD

1) Congratulations, America. You have elected someone I believe will be a true leader. Nicely done.

THE BAD

1) Prop 102 in Arizona is going through, Amendment 2 in Florida is going through and Prop 8 in California is a tight race, but I can't help but feel the Yes side will win. These are all motions to ban gay marriage. The California one is especially significant, as the courts there recently ruled that gay marriage was legal. Prop 8 will change the state's consitution to say that opposite-sex marriages are the only valid ones in that state.

What the fuck, California? How does permitting other people to have the same rights you do at all threaten your own rights? How does same-sex marriage threaten YOUR heterosexual marriage? Wasn't it Jon Stewart who said, some years ago, something like "surely all this uproar is because same-sex marriage will force you to marry someone of your own gender! Because otherwise, who cares?"? I fail to see how California could vote anything but No on Prop 8. And yet, they are.

2) Arkansas' Initiative 1 is going through -- this prohibits anyone who isn't married from adopting or being foster parents. While that's also valid for opposite-sex common law partners, you know who that's really targetted at; same-sex couples who cannot get married.

I am thrilled to live in a country where same-sex marriage is legal across the nation. Moosejaw, St. John's, Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, Yellowknife. Legal. Everywhere. And Prop 8 is sitting there with the YES side ahead by 300,000 votes with 89% of precincts reporting. I suppose I shouldn't be shocked, but there's like, 17 million registered voters in California and with 84% of the precincts reporting, only 9 million votes have been cast. FOR SHAME, California. For shame.

Of course, news out of California is pissing me off of late anyways...

THE TELEVISION-RELATED UGLY

Grey's Anatomy has fired Brooke Smith, who plays Erica Hahn. Her last episode is this coming Thursday.

On the heels of this... heart-wrenching, deep, powerful speech about how gay she is, they get rid of Erica.

What the fuck, ABC? Just really, what the fuck? The woman deserves an EMMY AWARD, not a pink slip.

As if that's not enough, Melissa George, that would be Lauren Reed from Alias, was going to come to the show as a bisexual character. As a love interest for Callie, to add the necessary triangle to the Callie/Erica couple. I mean, what's a drama without drama, right?

Melissa George's character is now going to be a love interest for Mark Sloane.

What the fuck are you doing, ABC? Honestly?

As if all this crap wasn't enough, over on All My Children, the soap I've followed for twenty-five years, they've paired up Bianca Montgomery (Erica's gay daughter) with some chick named Reese. After a tornado hit Pine Valley, and upon seeing each other after the tornado, they... hugged. Right, yes, because I would greet the woman I was seeing with a hug after I thought she was dead. Right. Even worse, to me, in terms of storyline... Reese proposed to Bianca. PROPOSED.

But, you may say, at least it showed a marriage proposal by a woman to a woman?

Yes. It did. And they even kissed afterwards. Huzzah. Except that it's the wrong girl. It's supposed to be Bianca and Maggie, not Biance and Reese. And Bianca shouldn't be having her brother-in-law's child as a sibling for her own without her sister's knowledge or consent. The kid is now simultaneously her other daughter's half-sister (through Bianca) and COUSIN through their fathers. What, that was so important, Bianca? Your own sister, Kendall, is "just" your half-sister and you love her to bits. Your brother, Josh, is "just" your half-brother through your mother as well. And then there's Sean and Molly, who are full siblings to each other and are your half-siblings through your father Travis. It's never seemed to matter to you, they've all been your siblings anyways. So you go to your rapist's brother, your own brother-in-law, your sister's husband, behind your sister's back to get impregnated? Dumb character assassination right there. Way to desxualize the daytime lesbian AGAIN, ABC, and then follow it up with ruining the prime-time lesbian relationship.

So let's see, ABC. In the last week, you have:

- unceremoniously fired an actress ONE SHOW after an amazing performance by her, as she declared her character to be "so gay, so so gay, EXTREMELY gay".
- rewritten a role to be a love interest for a man instead of a woman.
- performed yet another assassination on the character of Bianca Montgomery, while cloaking it in a same-sex marriage proposal, presumably to be able to say "hey, look, we're not homophobic!" so that you can have the same-sex wedding in the safety of the offscreen version of Paris.

Strong work, fuckers. This from the network, from the very show who fired Isaiah Washington after he referred to T.R. Knight as a "faggot"? What a difference a couple of years make.

I hear that Sara Ramirez, who plays Callie Torres, quit after she heard from Brooke Smith. Her contract apparently states that she needs to give notice, and rumour has it that, in her case, it is 10 episodes. Look for her to exit in 5x16-17 or thereabouts. Rumour also has it that T.R. Knight, who has since come out as gay after the "faggot" incident, went home "sick" after hearing that Brooke Smith was fired.

Well done, ABC. While I wasn't a fan for very long, GA is an ABC drama that actually touched people and you've just ripped out what is, for me, the heart and soul of the show -- the part I relate to at all. I may not identify with Callie, but I identified with Erica, to a point, and I was looking forward to getting to know them both a lot better.

But that's not going to happen. So I'm done watching your shit. I am tired of disappointment after disappointment. I have not forgotten the way Ellen was treated on your network with insane restrictions placed on her back in the 90s. I have not forgotten how you chickened out on AMC and created the character of Lena for that historic daytime same-sex kiss instead of actually using the character of Frankie, who you killed off shortly after she and Bianca declared their love, or Maggie, Frankie's twin, with whom you eventually got together with anyways -- off-screen. I have not forgotten the many disappointments I have had at your hands, ABC, both related to my sexual orientation and related to my preferences as a viewer. (Jack Bristow IS too bad-ass to die, fuckers.) I have a long memory and I do not forgive easily. I know it likely won't matter, but out of principle, I will be giving up Lost and I have hardly watched AMC since Bianca was on LAST time.

You can keep your "island mysteries" and numbers bullshit with your stupid show that never answers any goddamn questions. You can keep your desexualized lesbian in Paris on AMC. I don't need you for entertainment and I certainly don't need you to demonstrate to me that my fellow gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendereds are not welcome on your airwaves.

So in summary...

Tuesday was a good day for America and its citizens, on the whole. Barack Obama and the Democrats got in, change is coming. But it was a sad day for the GLBT community, who get even more legislation relegating them to second-class status. And it's been a sad couple of days for the GLBT community because apparently, ABC doesn't think we should have stories told about us on television.

America's due for some change. The smothering of conservative "values" is making a difference and suppressing the rights and now even the media representations of a whole minority group. Get to changing that, America. Get to accepting your minorities and bestowing full civic rights on them. There is nothing wrong with equality and there is everything wrong with treating other human beings as second-class citizens because of their skin colour, religion, sexual orientation, disabilities, age and gender. I don't get how close to 5 million people in California don't get that simple truth.