Sometimes you just want to crawl into bed and pull the sheets over your head.

Weeks like this one give me that feeling – that no matter how much progress we make, how many minds we change, there will always be selfish, small minded, misguided or angry people there to try to take it all away.

In November, voters, in their wisdom, decided to put Republicans in control of both houses of the state legislature. And not just in control – they executed a regime change breathtaking in its scope, flipping both houses and giving the GOP an almost 3/4 control of both house – more than enough to override any veto by the state’s Democratic Governor.

They did this because they were fed up with democrats, and their handling of the economy. But have you noticed that whenever voters get fed-up, the gay community is the collateral damage?

Newly empowered in 2011, the GOP has been quick to shed their “it’s not about social issues” stance that helped put them in power. Consider:

• As mentioned above, the GOP plans to repeal New Hampshire’s marriage equality law as soon as possible
• In Wyoming, the GOP is trying again to ba gay marriage in the state’s constitution
• In Pennsylvania, the state GOP is also readying an anti-gay marriage proposition
• The GOP in the US House is certain to try to kill marriage equality in DC, tho this may be more difficult
• In New York, the GOP takeover of the Senate has likely killed marriage equality efforts there for the next two years.
• In Iowa, the GOP won the House, and is increasing pressure on the democratically controlled Senate to help repeal marriage equality there, while simultaneously pushing to impeach the four remaining justices of the Supreme Court who legalized it in the first place.
• In Rhode Island, where we might actually get marriage equality this year, NOM has threatened to spend “whatever it takes” to derail the possibility

Not to mention losses in California and Maine in the last two years, where marriage equality was briefly a reality.

Sometimes it seems that the hatred and money piled up against us is endless. It seems like every tome we win a victory, the bigots are relentless in their efforts to take it away. If they can’t do it this year, they will try again next year. And if not then, the year after that. We’ve won marriage equality in six places in the US (California, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, DC, and Massachusetts) and by the end of this year, there’s a significant possibility that three of those will have been repealed, one way or another.

Things should get better over the long haul, as bigotry becomes less fashionable, But in the short-run, we’re in for a tough couple of years, at least.

So what do we do?

First, we get in bed, pull the covers up over our heads, and spend a day or a week watching re-runs of Queer as Folk and eating popcorn (believe me, we’ve tried it and it’s marvelously restorative).

Next, we get out of bed, shower and shave, and suit up again for the fight.

We work hard in the next two years to hold on to what we have, and to expand the field where we can – Illinois, Hawaii for civil unions, Rhode Island, Maryland for marriage.

We cry on each others’ shoulders when we have to, when things go wrong.

And when things go right, we mark those victories, loud and long. The victories are few and far between, and they must be celebrated.

We’ll get through this next year together

–Scott, Gay Marriage Watch