Just wanted to share how grateful I am to live here.

This post is semi-political.

I’m a native southerner who moved to Connecticut with my wife, a CT native, 5 years ago. We just had our second child. Thanks to Connecticut’s progressive labor laws, I’ll be taking the next couple of months off with paid leave that will match my take home pay. This type of pro-family, pro-worker legislation is unheard of where I’m from (Texas/Arkansas). My cousin took two weeks of unpaid leave and went straight back to work. I believe his wife got the same amount of time. The notion of receiving paid time off to bond with a newborn would be considered nothing short of communism in these states.

Pregnancy and delivery are stressful enough, but the last thing I’d want to worry about is something going wrong and then being prosecuted by the government for it. As a Connecticut resident, I felt tremendous peace of mind knowing that access to lifesaving abortion care was available for my wife if her pregnancy took a turn for the worse. We wouldn’t have to be part of a horror story like we’re seeing down south.

I’m so glad we’re in this state. I can’t believe I once thought life in a red state was normal or acceptable. It’s fucking not, and now I see the light. But most importantly, we have to VOTE to keep these policies in place. The creep of red state ideology is unending. Just look at NY/NJ this last election as evidence.