Arizona is such an interesting place to live in. I am a native and I've lived both in rural and urban settings here. You would think that people in the smaller areas would be less likely to be tolerant of the "alternate lifestyles" and that in the city things would be better. Well, you would think.

A couple of years ago, my partner and I were in my car, on our way to pick up a pizza. I know--very threatening to the general public, right? At that time, I happened to have a rainbow sticker on the back. I mean, I get to read about how someone's kid was on the honor roll at school last year every time I stop at a stop light, so why shouldn't I be able to put a sticker on my car that I'm proud of? It's not like I was displaying pornographic pictures on my back window. The sticker had been on there a few months, no problems. I'd even forgotten it was there. Apparently, the group of guys in the truck behind me didn't like it so much, which I hadn't yet noticed.

We were pulling up to a stoplight when I noticed the truck behind me. It was right on my tail and didn't look like it was slowing down as quickly as I was. There were cars in front of me and on my left side. I looked to go right, but just as I was, the group of guys swerved to the right so they were right beside me, leaving me nowhere to go. So there we were, trapped at the stop light. This group of guys, four big young guys, jumped out of their truck, ran up to my vehicle, and started yelling at us, calling us all the usual names, dyke, faggot, homo. Very original. The names weren't what bothered me, it was that they seemed so angry with us, just because of a stupid bumper sticker. Now, did I make fun of them for their confederate flag? What was frightening was that we were trapped at that stop light, and these jokers were acting this way and were right up on my vehicle. I thought the next thing that was going to happen was a broken window and probably a nice little beating. Mind you, this is in broad daylight, in a metropolitan area, with other people in their cars all around, not doing a thing. I usually have a handgun with me (because of my job) but didn't think I needed to be armed to go pick up a freakin' pizza. When the light turned green, the guys got back into their truck and went through the light. I got the heck away from them and took a different route home.

When I talked about this to co-workers, most of them had the comment, well, take the bumper sticker off your car. Excuse me, but why should I, or anyone else, have to take a non-offensive sticker off my car? Just because some group of small-minded, scared individuals feel that insecure in their own sexuality, they should be allowed to harass and threaten two women on their way to pick up a damn pizza? I shouldn't have to worry about being the next Matthew Shepard or Brandon Teena just because I have a rainbow on the back of my car. I threw it back at my friends, asking how they would like it if they were threatened in the road because their child is on the honor roll. A few of them actually saw my point.

I've yet to feel like that in small towns.  Thankfully, the ones I've lived in cared more about who you were, rather than what you were.  The message I always got there was, you mind your own business, I'll mind mine, and we'll gossip in between.  Maybe it's because people are closer and rely on each other more in small towns, who knows.

Arizona recently passed an amendment defining marriage, one man, one woman.  Many thanks to Senate President Tim Bee, R-Tucson, House Speaker Jim Weiers and 30 other members of the House who sponsored the bill in the state legislature that put the prop on the ballot.  As if it wasn't enough that there was all ready a law on the books defining marriage anyway; I guess the poor citizens of Arizona had to have a constitutional amendment.  You know, if that's what the voters wanted...But I would have gone them one better.  You want to define the sanctity of marriage, fine.  But just for that added sanctimonious feel, we should have included language making it so that if you got married, you had to stay married forever, period.  Oh, and we should probably start enforcing that law about adultery that's still on the books.  Anything to protect the morality of the populace.

I don't know.  Maybe it all starts with threats and harassment over bumper stickers, and ends with constitutional amendments and domestic partner rights being stripped.  I wish I would have known I was this powerful and scary years ago.  But seriously, here's hoping Arizona, and the country, come to realize that we are just people and not threats.