Sometimes I am left dumbfounded by the stupidity of politicians and their citizens. One would have thought that Arizona learned its lesson years ago when they passed horrific laws discriminating against their Hispanic community. They lost tourism, and population and the respect of the nation… Well, they are at it again with what they are calling a “Religious Freedom” law that is actually a law that would make discriminating against the gay community lawful. A policeman could say that his religion bans contact with homosexuals and just leave a victim to die. Doctors could refuse service to the LGBT community. A bus driver could throw you off the bus because his bible doesn’t accept homosexuality…It’s the MOST ABSURD AND HATEFUL LAW that anyone has crafted since… I don’t know… maybe the DOM laws? I hope their Governor turns her back on this hatred. If not… oh, my children, if not… We are going to have a lot of fun suing them down to bankruptcy!!!! I’m already looking up flights.”
— Entertainer/activist Harvey Fierstein in a message posted on his Facebook page that expressed his indignation at AZ Gov. Jan Brewer is considering signing a law that would allow people to discriminate at will against LGBT people on the grounds of “religious liberty.”
Aromaeus
Let’s not forget that one of the republican governors rescinded the executive order recognizing Martin Luther King day as a national holiday and that wasn’t rectified until 1992. Arizona seems hellbent on proving it’s a terrible place for anyone who isn’t a WASP male.
Aromaeus
@Aromaeus: christian heterosexual wasp male*
World Stop Russia
Arizona ain’t the Southwest, it’s the west’s South.
patronus
It’s such a trade off for these people. Do I want cookies or candy? Do I want blatant hate or business dollars.
Arizona, like Idaho and a few other states, have become homes to the radical Republicans. Their governor, like Butch Otter in Idaho could give a damn. But, it’s not just the gays who suffer. The majority are fooled by the hateful rhetoric, then the majority and minorities suffer in health care and opportunity while the elitist Republicans settle to another prime rib dinner. All children suffer in these regimes, with lack of food, clothing, medical treatment, and access to life’s wonderful opportunities.
When Martin Luther King said that when one suffers discrimination all suffer, he knew of the breadth of damage discriminatory suffering causes.
patronus
and, good job Harvey for being a leader. Your movie Torch Song Trilogy was a movie that gave me permission to be gay, to be in a loving relationship, and to understand the parent in denial of gay child. I’ll never forget spritzing the pillow with cologne and the bunny slippers.
tucsonartist
As an Arizonan and a proud gay man I have got to say that not everyone in Arizona is a crazed Christian. In fact here in Tucson we have a vibrant progressive community and many straight and supportive allies. But Arizona as a whole has a number of conservative radicals who have a misguided agenda that is heavily supported through ALEC initiatives. We are hopeful that the Governor will veto bill SB1062. We appreciate the support from outside the state and urge people to contact the governor to veto this bill.
My husband and I are also one of the couples in the case against the state to bring marriage equality to Arizona. In numbers we are stronger so we appreciate all allies and supporters – please visit our website at arizonaequality.org.
dougmc92
Arizona has 2015 Super Bowl- contact NFL letting them know they’ll have another Sochi on their hands if Brewer signs this law!
balehead
if this is defeated…The haters will just move to Manitoba , Canada….
hudson
@balehead: lol
They won’t be moving to Manitoba-Manitoba has moved to Arizona. Half of the trailer parks in Arizona are made up of Manitoba seniors looking for warmer climes. freaking cold winters up here.
SteveDenver
I could live with this, IF Christians could point out where in their giant black book it is commanded.
Now the rules on virginity are clear: perhaps bakeries should have a hymen check to make sure heterosexual couples are suitable customers.
carolynrdelarosa
my neighbor’s mother-in-law makes $75 /hour on the internet . She has been out of a job for nine months but last month her income was $18167 just working on the internet for a few hours. browse around this website………. http://x.co/3x3ae
Mezaien
@balehead: Hahahaah how funny! I am in Tucson, AZ and Arizona, is one of the most fucked up Christian, whites last holding in the USA. BUT!! we will over come the enemy of humanity name Christianity.
balehead
You know I’m telling the truth…
Ken
The United States is a plutocracy (government by the wealthy) and the Republicans represent them. However, they aren’t enough of them to win an election. They pretend to advocate a “moral value” that appeals to low-income, marginally educated people. If a “moral value” becomes ineffective, they drop it instantly and take up another. For example, they got votes with “family values” until they nominated Sarah Palin, then, as if someone had flipped a switch, they instantly and simultaneously stopped talking about family values.
They pick an unpopular minority, cast them as domestic enemies, then valiantly volunteer to save us from them. As soon as that minority becomes sufficiently mainstream or people become sympathetic to them, they shut it off and pick a new one. At the moment, we are the scarecrow. They can milk this one for a long time, because churches are like ocean liners, very hard to turn around.
In Arizona, the representatives of the wealthy are in the majority and the governor is belongs to their party, so it’s easy to pass this law, which is a vote-getter in the short term. The law will have a bad effect on ordinary people right away, and the wealthy will blame it on us. The wealthy aren’t affected as much, so this is a temporary strategy anyway. As soon as this law becomes unpopular and threatens to lose them votes, they will move on to another “moral issue.”
If the governor can be convinced that the law causes immediate harm to the wealthy, she won’t sign it.
jonjct
Harvey who? I don’t think anybody really cares what this bimbo has to say. Whoever he is. That said, this law can make some sense in some situations. When the Westboro Baptist Church comes into my bakery and demands I make them a hate cake I can be sued for discrimination if I say no. Just like gays can sue if I don’t make them a love cake for their wedding. This law protects me from haters. If an extremist pro-choice nutcase wants a kill-a-fetus cake I won’t have to make her one. Get the point?
Ken
I met a man in a supermarket who told me that he knew he was a Christian, even though he never went to church, because he was born in America and wasn’t a Jew. There are tons and tons of “Christians” out there just like him; people whose beliefs do not resemble the beliefs of historical Christianity. They are experts in their own minds, so they don’t need to read the Bible to advocate biblical values. I believe it was Tony Perkins who said that taking care of the poor is not a Christian value. I was stunned. In the Bible, God disbanded entire nations for not taking care of the poor.
When a person says, “I am a Christian, and the Bible says,” that does not necessarily mean they are a Christian or that they have read the Bible. You may close your ears.
Ken
No matter what the org chart says, churches are social organizations that all function the same. Churches decide issues with committees and study groups and prayer and discussions with reports to annual meetings, even if the issues are empirical, because they are social organizations. Not even the Catholic Church can institute a major change without a consensus. Eventually they come around, but their views lag behind. Their leaders can’t really lead, because the followers don’t have to follow, so getting everyone on board for a change in policies takes a long time.
When a church says that you are “intrinsically disordered,” they are the ones who are “intrinsically disordered,” because they must operate their organization instead of listening to science, the study of God’s creation, which is good and cannot lie,
Ken
Many people fancy themselves experts in constitutional law, because after all, they are Americans. I saw an anti-Obama bumper sticker on a car that read “No Third Term.” And this is in the Washington DC area! Bumper stickers have to be printed in volume, so there must be a lot of stupid people. The real constitution, not the imaginary one, prohibits a president from serving more than two terms.
When a persons says, “I support the constitution,” that doesn’t mean they have read it or even know what it says.
Ken
@jonjct: Businesses have the right to deny service to anyone for any reason, unless there is a law prohibiting discrimination against that group of people. Suppose city A has an anti-discrimination law that includes plaid people, but city B’s anti-discrimation law does not. If you have a baker in both cities, and you refuse to bake a cake for a plaid person in both cities, you can be sued in City A, but not in City B. If the law says you can’t discriminate against churches, but is silent about gays, then you couldn’t refuse to bake a hate cake for the Westboro Baptist Church, but you could refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding. In most of the country, refusing to bake a wedding cake for either a gay couple or the Westboro Baptist Church would be perfectly legal.
I would like to observe that the icing on the cake is not your speech, it is the client’s speech. If someone wants a cake that says, “I love you Sally,” you are not going to refuse to bake that cake just because you don’t love Sally. Jesus never said, “Love your neighbor, except the one you don’t.”
longpastdue
Ok someone please clarify this for me, as I read it while the intent of this law is to allow discrimination against LGBT people that is not the way it is worded and therefore it could allow discrimination against anyone if you could claim that your religious beliefs were at stake. Couldn’t this very easily be solved by saying that you were a Mormon who still (as I understand it not like the rest) believed in the Curse of Ham and therefore didn’t want to serve black people. The law would in this case obviously violate Federal anti-discrimination laws and could easily be challenged and overturned.
balehead
A lot of these Arizonians also have summer cottages in Manitoba …just sayin…
Ken
@longpastdue: They didn’t word it that way because they want to fool the court into thinking there is no animus. The court: We are not amused.
State and local law can’t override federal law, so this law doesn’t allow you to discriminate against anyone protected by federal law. It lets you discriminate against anyone else. Notice that you don’t have to prove that you had the religious belief before the situation arose or that you belong to any religious group that requires you to believe it. You can invent a religious belief for any occasion. Which means gay people can extemporize religious beliefs and discriminate against homophobes.
That could lead to some constructive chaos that would get the law repealed in a hurry.
hudson
@balehead: OK, whats with the Manitoba thing? Someone named ‘Styler’ on Towleroad was talking about the haters from AZ moving to Manitoba. Manitoba, Winnipeg anyway, is actually pretty liberal, former mayor was openly gay….. I think the Arizonians yer talking about area actually Manitobans that spend the winters in AZ, then go home for the summer. Manitoba has a great number of folks with summer cottages- disproportionately so. This is actually quite amusing.
SilverRayne
@Ken: in reply to the thing about the bumper stickers: that’s hilarious. However, there are many people out there who fear that Obama is a dictator that is going to overturn the entire constitution and do whatever the hell he wants to do. Often saying things like “he’s making laws that go against the constitution and our rights” and such. I could totally see an otherwise semi-rational person who knows that a president can’t serve more than two terms, all of a sudden thinking Obama will have a third term just because “he’s Obama and he’s going to ruin our country and get rid of all our freedoms” or some crap like that. Though, I live in south-east Texas. It’s a crazy part of the bible belt down here. My step-dad has a “friend”/acquaintance who tried to run in an election for some office a couple years back. On his campaign posters were the words “as long as we have our guns and bibles…” and I can’t remember the last part. Once I read the first part I was laughing. It had a picture of him standing there with a gun in one hand and a bible in the other. He didn’t get enough (if any) votes (not counting family/friends who may of voted for him) thank goodness. he’s a weird one.