Star Trek's Mr. Sulu Actor Promises Trouble For Arizona If Gov. Signs What He Calls 'Turn Away The Gay' Bill (illegal, illegal immigration)
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First off, in most of Arizona it is currently perfectly legal to put a "No Gays Allowed" sign in front of your business and to accordingly deny service to gay people. Certain cities in Arizona outlaw this though.
This bill would affect those cities. This bill allows religious belief to be a defense to anti-discrimination claims. The bill allows for discrimination if the discrimination is "motivated by a religious belief" and the "religious belief is sincerely held." If my religious belief is that gays are worthy of death in the eyes of God and shouldn't be allowed to exist in society, then this bill lets me ban gays from accessing my business.
And this doesn't just affect the gays. If my religious belief is that God doesn't want the races to mix, then this bill would let me have a "Whites Only" business.
Conservatives should hate this bill too. It puts the government - via government courts - in the position of determining if a person's belief is in fact a "sincerely held religious belief" or not. The bill is an intrusion of government into religion.
Nope. You can not discriminate on race in AZ. Gays are OK, but blacks are off limits.
Why wouldn't this law apply to religiously motivated race discriminators?
There is both state and Federal law and mountains of court cases all the way to the SCOTUS that prohibit that. Racists tried long ago and lost the argument that their religious beliefs lets them discriminate on race. If courts rule someday that discrimination on the basis of sexual preference violates our constitution, then any law such as this would become invalid. For now though, it is perfectly legal to discriminate against gays for whatever reason in most of our states.
Wow. What pathetic excuses will you liberals come up with next? Now the Arizona lawyers are in on it.
Oh I never said the Arizona lawyers are in on anything, I said Arizona lawyers are getting rich off the stupidity in Arizona and their willingness to violate the US Constitution.
There is both state and Federal law and mountains of court cases all the way to the SCOTUS that prohibit that. Racists tried long ago and lost the argument that their religious beliefs lets them discriminate on race.
This law provides a religious defense under Arizona state law to claims of discrimination. So if there exists a Phoenix law that says you can't discriminate against gays (which there is), this law allows you to do it anyway if you do it out of a "sincerely held religious belief." Likewise, if the state of Arizona has a law that says you can't discriminate against blacks (which there is), this law allows you to do it anyway if you do it out of a "sincerely held religious belief."
Sure, it's against federal law to discriminate based on race, but that doesn't change what this law means to Arizona. It'll be interesting to see if, when some black-hating racist uses this law discriminate and Arizona does nothing, the feds will step in and prosecute.
Quote:
If courts rule someday that discrimination on the basis of sexual preference violates our constitution, then any law such as this would become invalid.
Um, the federal prohibition against businesses discriminating based on race is statutory, not constitutional.
As a landlord I have to deal with city and county ordinances concerning not discriminating against minority when renting.
Where I live, gay people are "protected" just like other minorities based on color, ethnicity, age, sex, religion, etc. In fact, because of discrimination the City of Philadelphia kicked out the local Boy Scout leadership from a city owned building of which they were paying a token nominal rent on.
Anyway, as a landlord I have discovered there are discreet and legal ways other landlords use to discriminate, without it appearing like discrimination. Gay people, by the way, make excellent tenants.
This law provides a religious defense under Arizona state law to claims of discrimination. So if there exists a Phoenix law that says you can't discriminate against gays (which there is), this law allows you to do it anyway if you do it out of a "sincerely held religious belief." Likewise, if the state of Arizona has a law that says you can't discriminate against blacks (which there is), this law allows you to do it anyway if you do it out of a "sincerely held religious belief."
Sure, it's against federal law to discriminate based on race, but that doesn't change what this law means to Arizona. It'll be interesting to see if, when some black-hating racist uses this law discriminate and Arizona does nothing, the feds will step in and prosecute.
Um, the federal prohibition against businesses discriminating based on race is statutory, not constitutional.
OK. I am not going to argue with you. You are wrong and that is all there is to it.
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