Problem with passing strings values as "IN","OR";

Hi,

I want to pass "IN", "OR" strings as USA state abbreviations to the process but when i read following strings and pass it to other process I am getting error that "there is an syntax error near @".

but it is working fine when I take any other state like CA, MI etc.

I do understand that "IN", "OR" are system variables. But how do I pass these values and use it to activities.

Regards

Sunil