Retire to Florida or Texas? Or Boycott Them?
Dear Hank:
My husband and I have just retired and we’re thinking about moving out of New York City. We love New York, but it’s too damn expensive, and the older I get the more I have trouble dealing with the street noise (especially those damn ambulances.) Hubbie wants to move to Fort Lauderdale, or maybe Austin. But I’m not comfortable spending a single dollar in one of those right-wing, anti-gay states. What do you think? Am I being too political?
Johnny Decamp
Dear Johnny:
Well, Fort Lauderdale has lots of sunshine and a bustling gay community in Wilton Manors. And Austin? How can you not like a city whose local business alliance adopted “Keep Austin Weird” as a slogan? I’ve been to both and had a good time.
But when it comes to the politics, I share your concerns. If the U.S. Supreme Court keeps moving backwards, you and your hubbie might find your marriage dissolved in Texas. Hell, you might even get arrested for having sex. In 2003, the Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence vs. Texas that the Texas law making it criminal for men to have sex with one another was unconstitutional. That decision invalidated laws in 13 states barring people from sex with those of the same sex. It was a 6–3 decision, and the only justice in the minority who isn’t dead is…. You guessed it! Uncle Thomas.
Clarence Thoma hinted in his recent opinion Dobbs vs. Women’s Health Organization that the argument for rolling back women’s abortion rights could also be used to rethink other Supreme Court decisions like Obergefell v. Hodges, which blocked states from banning same-sex marriage. To be fair, Clarence Thomas wasn’t a fan of the Texas law. “Punishing someone for expressing his sexual preference through noncommercial consensual conduct with another adult does not appear to be a worthy way to expend valuable law enforcement,” he wrote in his dissent in Lawrence v. Texas. Still, he believes states have the right to enact such bans. Florida didn’t have a law explicitly banning people of the same sex from having sex with one another. But it did have a “sodomy” law that it only applied to gays and lesbians. Unmarried heteros could f-ck without fear.
I’ve made a personal decision to boycott states like Florida and Texas (and Arizona) that are aggressively pushing back against human rights, like the right to abortion and the right to same-sex marriage, and also against those unwilling to regulate guns. Frankly, my decision won’t have an impact on those states. We need to organize an international boycott to hit politicians in those states, and I don’t mean hit them in the gut. I mean hit them in the wallet. For the Grumpy Old Partisans, the wallet is all that ultimately matters (until cryptocurrency really rules, but that’s another day.)
So if your hubbie insists on decamping to Fort Lauderdale or Austin, maybe see if there are human rights / gay rights organizations in those cities that you can join. That way you’ll not only enjoy the sunshine (and low taxes) but also feel like you are making a difference.
Rebellious Hank
Questions you can’t bring yourself to ask your gay friends and neighbors? Or maybe you’re just queer and befuddled. Send them to Hank@AskAGay.net. (Warning: The answers will be factually correct, but might not be politically correct)
