Tim Fernholz has a nice piece on the most crushing losses of last Tuesday's election. He names, in particular, the anti-equality amendments in Florida and California, and the slight victory of the loathsome Michelle Bachmann. Agreed. I'd add two, one a professional disappointment, one a personal blow. Judy Feder: Feder ran against Frank Wolf in Virginia's 10th Congressional District and was soundly defeated. It's a shame, as Feder is one of DC's most respected health policy wonks, and as a reporter, I was really looking forward to scheduling an interview with a politician who could see both the politics and the policy of the issue. Watching a real wonk naviagate the health reform fight would've been a pleasure. Initiative One: My two nephews are adopted. I love them more than I could possibly express here. And there's no doubt of what an important, unalloyed good adoption has been for their lives, and for our family. But in Arkansas, the Family Research Council and variety of other "Christian" organizations drew up a ballot initiative "that would make it illegal for any individual cohabiting outside of a valid marriage to adopt or provide foster care to minors." In other words, not only are gay couples prohibited from providing a loving home to children who need one, but so too are straight couples who are unmarried. And Arkansas is not a state with a surfeit of willing caregivers: They have foster homes for only 1/3rd of the children who need them. This initiative will not really harm gay couples, who can adopt in another state. And it will not really harm straight couples, who are similarly mobile. But it will do enormous harm to children who desperately need a safe and stable and caring home. It is a sad testament to the ferocity of modern bigotry that the organizations in support of Initiative One were willing to harm children in order to strike a symbolic blow against gay and unmarried couples. It is even sadder that the people of Arkansas were willing to indulge such base revulsion, and had so little concern for the children that fate has heedlessly placed in their care. What were your most crushing losses?
