Bigots.

One of my fellow study subjects, sitting down to a lunch of taco salad, says, "What is this shit? What am I supposed to do with this? I don't even know how to eat this. Too many fucking Mexicans in the kitchen. We need some real food here, instead of this fucking Mexican shit." If I hadn't been so taken aback by the careless, offhand bigotry -- not to mention the appalling rudeness, since the woman who prepared the food was standing about 20 feet away -- I would have enjoyed a laugh at the thought of blaming the Mexican people for taco salad.

I'm a little sensitive because last night during dinner two young guys were loudly sharing their views about gay marriage (explaining why they would never vote for Guiliani), the usual blah blah about going against god. We all know I'm not a big fan of the gay marriage fight -- the irony of gay marriage being the progressive issue of our time is almost as funny/sad as blaming the Mexicans for taco salad -- but the standard arguments against it are all about saying one group of people is better than another and deserves better treatment. So, even though I'm not out there begging to get married, it still hurts to see how vehemently some people think I shouldn't be allowed to.

And anyone who says I'm hearing this stuff because I live in Texas just isn't listening. I heard just as many bigoted, mean-spirited conversations when I lived in New York and San Francisco.