Why has Arkansas become so hateful?

What a hateful place Arkansas has become, especially with regards to the Legislature! So many bills have been proposed, and some approved, that are just mean, hateful or discriminatory: hateful to women, to voters, especially of color, discriminatory to LGBTQ people, transgender youth.

I would like to think many Arkansas residents would not agree with the tenets of these bills, so that makes me think that Arkansas Republican legislators are to blame. I am very ashamed to be an Arkansas resident during this session, the same way I was ashamed to be an American during President Trump’s time in office. I feel like this will backfire, with both businesses and residents not wanting to move here, not to mention those organizations that will start canceling events held here.

On a national level, our representatives are not acting any differently. Recently our four House representatives voted against passing HR 908 condemning all forms of anti-Asian sentiment as related to covid-19, and HR 1620, the Violence Against Women Act.

Why the hate? Why aren’t we concentrating on helping people? Democrats may spend a lot of money, but at least their efforts are aimed at helping people. In addition to being hateful, these bills also seem to be preemptive. They are not attempting to fix a problem but are a solution in search of a problem. Not only are there no transgender athletes on Arkansas’ women’s teams that may or may not have affected scores, but there are no transgender athletes in Arkansas whatsoever! Why are we wasting taxpayer money on these ridiculous bills?

I am very thankful for the presence of many civil rights groups and look forward to upcoming litigation to challenge these hateful bills.

MARLENE CRAIG West Fork