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I am in Arizona and almost no one supports the bill. These folks were elected primarily because of the high turnout of senior voters and the low turnout of younger voters. They think they have some sort of mandate but they are very wrong. Phoenix and Tucson are more like California and not Oklahoma or Kansas. Its almost embarassing having these old geezers putting forth this nonsense. We can thank Del Webb and the various Sun Cities along with the so called silent generation for this non-sense.
Thanks for that, it's reassuring.
fwiw, I'm a straight white geezer who self-identifies as a Christian, but I don't even remotely identify with the Del Webb set.
I for one hope Brewer signs it. Obviously it's hateful and unconstitutional, and it wouldn't stand up to a court challenge. But in the meantime I would like a big bright spotlight shone on these cockroaches.
Mitt Romney has joined those urging Brewer to veto SB 1062. What is taking her so long?
Apparently she's in Washington and said she'll address this when she returns. This is of course a no-brainer. She'll veto it -- I think she already signaled that in an interview. The Superbowl is too important economically to BS people with ideology. Let's see on one hand--religious zealots. On the other hand, the Superbowl, Apple, Marriot, American Airlines. C'mon-she would have to be insane not to veto the bill.
When you get right down to it, the bill does nothing really that is not already allowed in state law. There is no protection for gays in this state to begin with.
This bill most certainly does something. Your statement that I bolded and underlined is plain false.
While there are no statewide protections for gay people in Arizona (except the state can't discriminate in hiring/firing public employees based on sexual orientation), many municipalities within Arizona prohibit discrimination in private employment, housing, and public accommodation based on sexual orientation (including Phoenix - the largest city in Arizona). This law would give religious people in these municipalities the special right* to discriminate against gay people by providing them an affirmative defense against their municipal law.
Also, the bill doesn't limit this special religious defense to anti-gay discrimination. This bill would let religious people discriminate against any group - black, white, Jewish, Muslim, gay, etc - if the discrimination is based on a religious belief. To do so would be legal under Arizona law. Sure, many instances would conflict with Federal anti-discrimination law, but that's an issue between the Feds and the religious bigot.
*(special since non-religious people would not have the right to do the same)
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There is a "religious freedom" law already. The bill did not change that substantially.
Actually, it fundamentally alters and substantially changes Arizona's "Religious Freedom" law. Here are the changes. The blue words are additions, and the red words are being removed.
This bill most certainly does something. Your statement that I bolded and underlined is plain false.
While there are no statewide protections for gay people in Arizona (except the state can't discriminate in hiring/firing public employees based on sexual orientation), many municipalities within Arizona prohibit discrimination in private employment, housing, and public accommodation based on sexual orientation (including Phoenix - the largest city in Arizona). This law would give religious people in these municipalities the special right* to discriminate against gay people by providing them an affirmative defense against their municipal law.
Also, the bill doesn't limit this special religious defense to anti-gay discrimination. This bill would let religious people discriminate against any group - black, white, Jewish, Muslim, gay, etc - if the discrimination is based on a religious belief. To do so would be legal under Arizona law. Sure, many instances would conflict with Federal anti-discrimination law, but that's an issue between the Feds and the religious bigot.
*(special since non-religious people would not have the right to do the same)
Actually, it fundamentally alters and substantially changes Arizona's "Religious Freedom" law. Here are the changes. The blue words are additions, and the red words are being removed.
There are three cities in AZ that have protections for gays. Whether that is "many" is debatable, but what is not debatable is that a large majority of the people living in the Phoenix area do not live in the Phoenix city limits and are not affected by Phoenix city ordinances protecting gays. Gays get served because there is no overt discrimination, not because of the law. The part of your post about having religious protection for discrimination against blacks, Jews, etc, is utter nonsense. We have covered this ground in a previous thread to the point that I have twice provided legal opinions from a respected professor of law at ASU. If you want to hold to your position, be my guest. I am not going to go over it with you again.
There are three cities in AZ that have protections for gays.
Thank you for realizing that. I take it you now understand that this law in fact would have a real effect in Arizona. (those 3 cities account for more than 2 million people, or 1/3rd of Arizona's population - that's more people than in 15 US states).
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The part of your post about having religious protection discrimination against blacks, Jews, etc, is utter nonsense. We have covered this ground in a previous thread and I am not going to go over it with you again.
How is what I said nonsense? Everything I said about it is 100% accurate.
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