I owe Alabama a half-hearted apology.

Two years ago, I wrote a piece for Out magazine based on my three-and-a-half year stint as a gay bachelor in Montgomery, the state capitol.

I steered clear of saying it directly in the story, but sure enough, right there on the cover of the magazine, it was promo'd: "The Worst Place to be Gay in Bush's America."

Pretty emphatic, right? It is perfectly true that I hadn't painted a rosy portrait of Homobama in my long screed, battering readers with the hate murders and various other anti-gay assaults that happen down there with unusual frequency. But I steered clear of saying it was the worst. I swear I did.

Anyway, what I should have talked more about were the valiant folks working for queer rights in Alabama, as hearty and canny a stock of activists as you are ever going to find. And now two of them hold elective office.

A big celebratory whoop goes out to voters in Birmingham, where Howard Bayless, formerly chair of the state's LGBT group, just became the first openly gay man to win public office in Alabama. Bayless was elected by a landslide -- and to the school board, to make it sound even sweeter. Last year, a Birmingham district was the first to make the breakthrough to non-heterosexual representation, electing state Rep. Patricia Todd, another former chair of Equality Alabama.

Comments (24)

1. Well, Mr Moser, our right-wing friends may not believe in evolution (as they don't in gay rights), but obviously...

   it's happening!

   Good news from the "Yellowhammer State"!

   Posted by Mask at 10/11/2007 @ 10:15am

2. school board, huh?

   congratulations to mr. bayless on his new job.

   and many, many more congratulations to the voters of Birmingham.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 10/11/2007 @ 12:38pm

3. Why would you congradulate voters on picking a candidate they think is best..regardless of the sexual gender of the candidate?

   Posted by john maasch at 10/11/2007 @ 1:05pm

4. And what if the newly elect candidate is a failure?

   Posted by john maasch at 10/11/2007 @ 1:06pm

5. Would you congradulate the voters for getting rid of that same newly elected for being incompetent if they were also gay?

   Get my drift?

   Posted by john maasch at 10/11/2007 @ 1:08pm

6. And what if the newly elect candidate is a failure?

   Posted by JOHN MAASCH 10/11/2007 @ 1:06pm

   If so, you can bet folks like RIO, LVLIBERTY and PONTI will remind us. A safe bet for you to take, Maasch.

   Posted by Hman23 at 10/11/2007 @ 1:10pm

7. And what if the newly elect candidate is a failure?

   Posted by JOHN MAASCH 10/11/2007 @ 1:06pm

   Then, he'll get a Presidential Medal of Freedom medal from Bush!

   Posted by Mask at 10/11/2007 @ 1:27pm

8. Why would you congradulate voters on picking a candidate they think is best..regardless of the sexual gender of the candidate?

   Posted by JOHN MAASCH 10/11/2007 @ 1:05pm

   because the voters disregarded the man's gayness.

   as i said, it's the voters who should really be congratulated.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 10/11/2007 @ 1:31pm

9. I am not sure what Hman is refering to, but my point is , would you also congraulate the voters if they ignored the mans gayness and got rid of him if he were bad enough to be recalled? Would there be congrats then?

   Posted by john maasch at 10/11/2007 @ 4:08pm

10. And what if the newly elect candidate is a failure?

    Posted by JOHN MAASCH 10/11/2007 @ 1:06pm

    If so, you can bet folks like RIO, LVLIBERTY and PONTI will remind us. A safe bet for you to take, Maasch.

    Posted by HMAN23 10/11/2007 @ 1:10pm

    What bet? It was a simple question.

    Posted by john maasch at 10/11/2007 @ 4:09pm

11. "sweet" home alabama? sorry...couldn't resist...

    good for alabamy...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 10/11/2007 @ 4:44pm

12. Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 10/11/2007 @ 4:44pm

    "Somebody tell Fred Phelps, Southern man don't need him around, anyhow......"

    heheh

    Posted by Mask at 10/11/2007 @ 4:53pm

13. For heavens sakes people, it's a fricking school board. And, if any of you noticed, Mr. Mosser didn't reveal what county school board Mr. Bayless is on. Heck, the guy isn't board president. Anyway, coming from a state that is second to dead last in student test scores, was this article really worth it?

    Posted by ACook at 10/11/2007 @ 9:39pm

14. was this article really worth it?

    Posted by ACOOK 10/11/2007 @ 9:39pm

    perhaps the article's worth lies in the fact that voters in an infamously discriminatory place were willing to look beyond mindless prejudice in their choosing of whom they want to educate their children.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 10/11/2007 @ 10:03pm

15. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 10/11/2007 @ 10:03pm

    'Fraid our conservative friends can't say much about this article. They can try to poo'poo it.

    But ALABAMA?!!??! "allowing" an openly gay person to be elected.

    It's a clear sign that the "Culture War" is being lost by their side and like all wars they're losing, they cannot face its reality.

    Posted by Mask at 10/11/2007 @ 10:29pm

16. and like all wars they're losing, they cannot face its reality.

    Posted by MASK 10/11/2007 @ 10:29pm

    that's ironic.

    one would think that being on the losing end of a war* would be more conducive to understanding its reality.

    *ultimately, any conflict is a losing proposition for all parties

    Posted by frosty zoom at 10/11/2007 @ 10:52pm

17. "perhaps the article's worth lies in the fact that voters in an infamously discriminatory place were willing to look beyond mindless prejudice in their choosing of whom they want to educate their children."

    Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 10/11/2007 @ 10:03pm

    Um, FZ, school boards don't educate, they spend tax payer money and then vote on bad education policy.

    Posted by ACook at 10/11/2007 @ 11:09pm

18. "It's a clear sign that the "Culture War" is being lost by their side and like all wars they're losing, they cannot face its reality."

    Posted by MASK 10/11/2007 @ 10:29pm

    Culture War?! What side are you talking about?

    Posted by ACook at 10/11/2007 @ 11:12pm

19. "perhaps the article's worth lies in the fact that voters in an infamously discriminatory place were willing to look beyond mindless prejudice in their choosing of whom they want to educate their children."

    Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 10/11/2007 @ 10:03pm

    Um, FZ, school boards don't educate, they spend tax payer money and then vote on bad education policy.

    Posted by ACOOK 10/11/2007 @ 11:09pm | ignore this person

    "perhaps the article's worth lies in the fact that voters in an infamously discriminatory place were willing to look beyond mindless prejudice in their choosing of whom they want to decide how their taxes are spent and which bad education policies are implemented."

    Posted by frosty zoom at 10/11/2007 @ 11:17pm

20. "perhaps the article's worth lies in the fact that voters in an infamously discriminatory place were willing to look beyond mindless prejudice in their choosing of whom they want to decide how their taxes are spent and which bad education policies are implemented."

    Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 10/11/2007 @ 11:17pm

    I agree with you on your assessment!

    Posted by ACook at 10/11/2007 @ 11:51pm

21. Posted by ACOOK 10/11/2007 @ 11:51pm

    all right!

    Posted by frosty zoom at 10/12/2007 @ 12:00am

22. I live in another notoriously discriminatory place--Chicago--and we have several elected officials who are openly gay. Of course, they're all completely corrupt and incompetent hacks of the Machine, but that makes them just like all the heterosexual pols hereabouts.

    Posted by feinfein at 10/12/2007 @ 12:20am

23. Thanks for being a man and admitting your article two years ago was biased toward making the situation look even worse than it is. You called people working in the movement "long suffering" and said, " Is there something in the water down here that rendered gay people spineless, speechless, gutless?" Sure all the awful things you wrote about are true, but you could have included some positive aspects. A lot of people who were working hard on advancing LGBT equality in Alabama wondered why you did not cover some of the things we were working on, like electing openly gay candidates or why you did not even mention the name Equality Alabama in your article. Come on, you interviewed most of the people featured in your article at the organization's largest event, it's not like you didn't know these positive things were going on. It was an obvious omission and serious slight to those of us struggling to make gains in what I agree is the Worst Place to be Gay in Bush's America.

    Posted by JohnNBham at 10/15/2007 @ 09:54am

24. I'm not so sure that Alabama is the worst place to be gay, although it certainly has a long way to go. Has anyone done a quantitative study to determine that it's so much better to be gay in, say, Wyoming (need I bring up Matthew Shepard?), or another state that is equally as homophobic as Alabama, but where the sheer numbers would have to make it harder for gays to find community? In that vein, I have to wonder why Bob only met 2 gay people in 3 months in Montgomery. I met more people than that in my first week here. All it takes is getting out and active in your community, and once you meet one or two members of the community, you start getting inviting to gatherings and begin to build a social network. This should sound familiar to anyone who's ever moved to a new city. And given how much people moan about the attitude of big city gays and how hard it can be to find friendship in places like NY and SF, are we to believe that living there is always an unalloyed thrill-a-minute Wonderful Gay Life? Wherever you go, life has its challenges. We just have a few extra challenges here, compared to places where enlightened attitudes are more commonplace.

    Posted by JohnNMgm at 10/15/2007 @ 3:26pm