Today, the bigots and haters will be out in full force as their soul mates in the North Carolina House introduce House bill 361. While the bigots and haters are rallying outside, members of Equality NC will be inside trying to talk sense into legislators.

They need our help and they are providing the tools to make it easy.

Please, please, please follow this link and enter your zip code. They make it so easy. Once the names of your rep and senator come up, click on their names one at a time. When their detailed page comes up you will see either a picture or a black box. Under that box is the contact link.

Here's the email I sent:

Dear Representative Blackwood,

I am writing to ask you to NOT support House Bill 361. The bill represents hate and bigotry and there is no room for either in this state.

{cross-posted from ScruHoo and DWT!}

For sixteen long years, the citizens of North Carolina's mountainous 11th District were represented in Congress by Charles H. Taylor. No matter the clouds of corruption allegations swirling around him, conservative voters returned Taylor to the House cycle after cycle. He had his Russian bank ties, his Jack Abramoff ties, his Savings and Loan scandal, and a remarkable antipathy towards the press and his progressive constituents. It was like an ill-considered, abusive relationship, and NC-11 voters couldn't tear themselves away.

Then along came Heath Shuler. Big, handsome, and aw-shucks honest, he had pretty words about labor unions, education, and the environment. He looked like our dragon-slayer. We knew about his social conservatism and Tennessee Republican registration, but we looked past those differences, ready for him to free us from the muck pond of Charles Taylor's reign.

In his daily sacrifice to the tax relief gods, John Hood makes the case against taxing smokers and drinkers, arguing that they're not the cause of our woes.

North Carolinians who consume alcohol and cigarettes did not cause the state’s budget crunch, the nation’s bailout/stimulus mania, or the world’s economic recession. It would be unjust to compel them to shoulder a disproportionate share of the cost of grappling with these issues.