Arizona Seeks To Pass Anti-Gay Bill

Byrnzie

At least these racists and bigots are consistent.


http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/25/arizona-governor-jan-brewer-anti-gay-bill


Arizona governor Jan Brewer urged to block anti-gay bill as debate swirls

Storm rages over new bill that allows local businesses to refuse service to gay people on the grounds of religious freedom



Ed Pilkington in New York
theguardian.com, Tuesday 25 February 2014



Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona, returns to Phoenix from Washington on Tuesday and flies straight into a political storm over a new state bill that allows local businesses to refuse to serve gay people on grounds of religious freedom.

Brewer has until end of the day on Saturday to decide whether or not to veto SB 1062, which has cleared the legislature under the title “exercise of religion” and is awaiting the governor’s signature.

Though it does not mention same-sex marriage or relationships directly, it is clearly targeted at gay people, giving businesses immunity from discrimination lawsuits should they chose to deny service to customers in accordance with their religious beliefs.

Prominent Republicans, businesses groups in Arizona and even some religious leaders have called on the governor to block the bill. The signs were on Tuesday that she would accede to the pressure.

“I have a history of deliberating and having an open dialogue on bills that are controversial, to listen to both sides of those issues, and I welcome the input and information that they can provide to me,” Brewer said in an interview with CNN. “And certainly I am pro-business, and that is what’s turning our economy around, so I appreciate their input, as I appreciate the other side.”

The political maelstrom engulfing Brewer – in which prominent political figures, businesses and even religious leaders are pleading with the governor to block the bill – puts Arizona at the front line of the increasingly tense confrontation over gay marriage that is sweeping across the US. Gay rights activists have been emboldened by the US supreme court’s decision last June to award same-sex spouses equal federal benefit rights, prompting an anti-gay backlash primarily in the more conservative southern states.

On Tuesday, a trial opened in federal court in Detroit in which a lesbian couple challenged Michigan’s constitutional ban on gay marriage. The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, contests the constitutional amendment passed by Michigan voters in 2004 on the grounds that it violates the equal protection clause of the US constitution.

Federal judges have recently struck down similar bans in Oklahoma and Utah, where state authorities are appealing. In Virginia, the state’s attorney general decided not to defend a legal challenge. At least 17 states and the District of Columbia have legislated in favour of same-sex marriages, while more than 30, including Arizona, still proscribe the practice.

As the fight has intensified, several conservative-leaning states have sought to counter the general trend towards gay marriage rights by flexing their own legislative muscle. In Kansas earlier this month, state lawmakers proposed a bill similar to Arizona’s SB 1062 that would allow denial of service to gay and lesbian couples without legal retribution, although the proposal is stalled in the state senate. Another similar bill is passing through the state legislature in Georgia.

Now Eric Holder, the US attorney general, has waded into the fray, telling the New York Times that state attorneys general should not be obliged to defend same-sex marriage prohibitions in their states. Already, Democratic attorney generals in six states – California, Illinois, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Virginia – have refused to back such bans when they have been challenged in court by gay couples.

The standoff between largely Republican lawmakers in the more conservative states and Democratic attorneys general and gay rights activists ensures there is more drama to come – in state legislatures and in the courts. Most observers believe the issue will not finally settle down until the US supreme court delivers its verdict on the constitutionality of gay marriage itself – an issue that the nine justices have so far declined to consider head-on.

It is into this febrile situation that Brewer lands back on Tuesday, as speculation was rising that she would in the end use her veto power and put a stop to SB 1062. But until she actually does, all bets are off – the last time she was in a similar conundrum, over the hardline SB 1070 that drastically curtailed the rights of undocumented immigrants, she signed the bill.

Pushing her in one direction is a mounting groundswell of opinion that warns that enactment of SB 1062 would be disastrous for Arizona’s shaky economy. In this camp are major employers such as Apple, American Airlines and Marriott hotels, and the committee organizing Arizona’s hosting of the Super Bowl in 2015, which some commentators have suggested might be in jeopardy if the bill becomes law.

Arizona’s Republican US senators – John McCain and Jeff Flake – have urged Brewer to wield her veto, as have three Republican state senators, Adam Driggs, Steve Pierce the architect of the anti-immigrant SB 1070 bill, and Bob Worsley, who all previously backed the refusal-of-service proposal.

Shoving in the other direction is the original promoter of the bill, the Center for Arizona Policy, that has called the furore over the legislation “politics at its worst”.

Byrnzie

Public Enemy - By The Time I Get To Arizona http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFOb_f7ubw

Godfather.

isn't this the same paranoid stuff you guy's accuse me of ? ) and I guess freedon of religious beliefs can swing both ways so it just stands to reason that if a straight American business owner feels that a gay muslim is allowed to live in his city he does not have to offer his business to those people...everything comes with a price,I'm laughing my ass off right now you remember the ol' saying "be careful what you ask for" well this is a perfect example, people for any cause will only bend so much before they fight back and Arizona is a great example of that,you can call them biggots or racist but the truth is they are just people standing up for what they believe in just like you or anybody else...I love this place.

Godfather.

Godfather.

this pretty much sums up the whole topic.

Though it does not mention same-sex marriage or relationships directly, it is clearly targeted at gay people, giving businesses immunity from discrimination lawsuits should they chose to deny service to customers in accordance with their religious beliefs.

what's the problem ?

Godfather.

chadwick

arizona should be burnt to the ground, yes/no? what a hateful bunch of fucking idiots

polaris_x

what i find tragic is that the law is being argued against NOT because it is fucking discriminatory and an affront to civil liberties ... it's being argued against because of the economic impact to AZ ... the Super Bowl will likely get taken away if AZ passes this law ...

polaris_x

chadwick said:

arizona should be burnt to the ground, yes/no?

have you been there!? ... it's already burnt! ... it's all dessert and rock! ... if it wasn't for the grand canyon - i can easily avoid AZ moving forward ...

chadwick

i thought it was about being kind & decent to your fellow man

polaris_x said:

chadwick said:

arizona should be burnt to the ground, yes/no?

have you been there!? ... it's already burnt! ... it's all dessert and rock! ... if it wasn't for the grand canyon - i can easily avoid AZ moving forward ...

been there & like it
nice forests up in the high elevations
spring water & everything
great native american culture & art
four corners area... vibrating

Jason P

Show lack of foresight in even intruducing this bill. How could they not foresee this would set off a shit storm?

Proof once again that politicians are neither smart nor good at their jobs.

chadwick

godfather,

if you worked at a gas station (hell, maybe you own it) would you sell a gas can full of gas to a homosexual man who ran out of gas a few miles down the road?

Last-12-Exit

These moron politicians that voted for this bill are now trying to save their jobs by hoping the governor vetos it. There's absolutely no way she signs this bill into law.

jmuscatello

I agree that it's very sad that Brewer's veto will come only because of fear of economic impacts. This bill is such an embarrassment for the decent people in AZ, and I agree it's more of a reflection of the politicians.... watch out who you're putting into office because god knows what screwy hateful agenda they'll pursue. I can only hope there is significant voting backlash in their next state elections. I saw a pizzeria in Tucson put up a sign saying they had the right not to serve state politicians - good move!

Byrnzie

jmuscatello said:

I saw a pizzeria in Tucson put up a sign saying they had the right not to serve state politicians - good move!

=D>

Byrnzie

chadwick said:

been there & like it
nice forests up in the high elevations
spring water & everything
great native american culture & art
four corners area... vibrating

The Anasazi ruins are cool too. I love that place. I remember eating some steaks in a restaurant at Mesa Verde, near the Grand Canyon, and being served by some big Indian dudes. I'd like to go back to that area again one day.

chadwick

jmuscatello said:

I saw a pizzeria in Tucson put up a sign saying they had the right not to serve state politicians - good move!

this should be across the board... sea to shining sea
oneday we'll have our country back

hedonist

Jason P said:

Show lack of foresight in even intruducing this bill. How could they not foresee this would set off a shit storm?

Proof once again that politicians are neither smart nor good at their jobs.

You nailed it on all points.

As to the state itself, went to Scottsdale once on a work-related jaunt. Never again!

rgambs

yeah godfather, theres no problem here, just hang your signs.
"no gays allowed" "no negroes" "Irish need not apply" "muslims go home" "Jew's belong in concentration camps"
what? we are just practicing our beliefs?!

"you can call them biggots or racist but the truth is they are just people standing up for what they believe in just like you or anybody else"
statements like this are only ever used to defend racism and bigotry

unsung

I can even begin to explain why government shouldn't be involved in situations like this. The market would shut these places down. No laws needed. People are smart enough to do the right thing.

rgambs

"I guess freedon of religious beliefs can swing both ways so it just stands to reason that if a straight American business owner feels that a gay muslim is allowed to live in his city he does not have to offer his business to those people" <--- this makes no sense!!!

if the government allows a straight american business owner to illegally deny civil rights based on "religious belief" then the governement is endorsing that belief! which is the opposite of freedom of religion!

jmuscatello

chadwick said:

godfather,

if you worked at a gas station (hell, maybe you own it) would you sell a gas can full of gas to a homosexual man who ran out of gas a few miles down the road?

good question hope you get an honest answer

brianlux

Arizona is a beautiful place that, like many places, has some people with very un-beautiful minds.