We are so sorry for ever doubting that Alabama would maintain its place as the most intolerant state in the country. We wrote about this a while back when it looked like Virginia was making a play for the title. Sure, Virginia made some impressive strides, but in the end, no one can come close to Alabama.

In addition to the Amicus Brief (PDF) filed by the State of Alabama defending the use of the Cobb Country evolution disclaimers (they were joined by Texas in saying that, in effect, there is no separation of church and state), we also heard about a bill being proposed in the Yellow Hammer State that would stop them dagnabbed Evil Gays from influencing our young'ns! From a Stupid Evil Bastard guest post, we found this CBS News article:

Republican Alabama lawmaker Gerald Allen says homosexuality is an unacceptable lifestyle. As CBS News Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, under his bill, public school libraries could no longer buy new copies of plays or books by gay authors, or about gay characters.

"I don't look at it as censorship," says State Representative Gerald Allen. "I look at it as protecting the hearts and souls and minds of our children."

And from an earlier article on Al.com, we see:

Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed.

"I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he said.

Well yeehaw, that's great. They're not just talking about text books that reference homosexual people, or books with gay characters — both of which should also be acceptable anyway — they have gone way beyond utter insanity to include books that are written by homosexuals.

Are they afraid that the authors' Gay has contaminated the book covers and will rub off on their kids? Can that still happen for mass-produced books? Apparently they think so. While they're at it, they may as well ban gay ice cream men, since the semi-permeable sticks of Rocket Pops are even more likely to harbor those wicked, sinful Gay Germs. And gay firemen (like in those calendars), since their Gay could potentially spread via smoke and contaminate whole counties.

This is nothing more than truly raving homophobia, and this asshole should be removed from office. Of course, the people of Alabama voted for him, so that makes it okay, right? Frankly, in our opinion, the only office Allen is qualified to hold is Grand Wizard. But then, maybe he already does.

As a note, this legislation died without going to a vote (as noted by CBS News) since not enough legislators were present when the time to vote rolled around (they were probably all out buying Gay-Away! spray). Still, this is an incredible attempt at bigotry and intolerance that doesn't even get proposed in most states, so Alabama's championship intolerance is safe and sound.

Really, isn't Allen just saying that homosexuals themselves should share the same fate he envisions for books that have been "touched" by these wicked people? If he was asked, off the record, what to do about the gay people who are attempting to "take over" the country, we bet we know what his answer would be:

"I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he said.

This is ridiculous. When you starting burning (or burying books) it is just one step closer to the possibilty of genocide.

"Your Alabaman legislature looks pretty mein fuhrer"

Indeed.