It’s interesting timing that on the day the world finds out just how methodical and brutal an agency of our government can be against its fellow man, the good citizens of Fayetteville, Arkansas, voted to repeal an ordinance that protected some of its own citizens from being tortured.

Richard Drake of the Arkansas Times:

While no doubt those who were trembling at the thought of sending their sons and daughters into public restrooms alone can now sleep the sleep of the just (and the paranoid), and those who also relish the idea of turning away business from those they find yucky can run up and down the streets in victory, it might be a good time to quietly reflect on the fact that, though some might vociferously deny it, in the not-so-recent past, Fayetteville hasn’t been such a healthy place for those who have been gay, or even the children of those who have been gay.

There is a difference between the C.I.A. torturing terror suspects and a landlord in Arkansas refusing to rent a house to a gay couple, but it’s really only a matter of degree.  Both systematically deprive the subject of their basic humanity.