"Turn Away Gays" Bill Reaches Arizona Governor

• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-02-22 01:43

  A bill that would allow businesses to refuse service to customers based on personal, religious beliefs is now on the desk of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, as protests continue.

  
  
  http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/02/bill-allowing-businesses-to-turn-away-gays-reaches-ariz-governor/
• mageisfun wrote on 2014-02-22 02:09
  Great, so now Arizona is getting proposed a bill like this.
  
  Still wondering where separation of church and state went.
  
  50 shades of done with this bullshit.
• TLCBonaparte wrote on 2014-02-22 02:10
  Does this mean gay business men can turn away straight people now?
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-02-22 02:18

  Quote from mageisfun;1200768:

  Great, so now Arizona is getting proposed a bill like this.
  
  Still wondering where separation of church and state went.
  
  50 shades of done with this bullshit.

  
  
  The sad part is it's not just proposed, it's passed. Right now it's sitting on his desk. If he signs it, it's a law. If he doesn't then I'm sure there will be another one in a few months.
• Yoorah wrote on 2014-02-22 02:21
  They could, but it wouldn't make good business sense.
  This thing is silly.
• Lyni wrote on 2014-02-22 04:46

  Quote from mageisfun;1200768:

  Still wondering where separation of church and state went.
  
  50 shades of done with this bullshit.

  
  
  ^--This.
• Evaris wrote on 2014-02-22 07:18
  whelp i'm not moving there.
  
  ... unless just to set up a shop where I can put a sign that says 'No christians allowed' so i could troll since all my merchandise would undercut -everyone-. Sure it would be at a loss, but would the lulz be worth it... maybe.
  
  If I were rich.
• Drizzit wrote on 2014-02-23 05:08
  Don't businesses already have the right to refuse service to anyone? A privately owned business is private property, and the owner has the right to serve or deny anyone. It's their loss if they don't want your money.
• Hanna wrote on 2014-02-28 00:07
  VETO'D BITCHES
  

  [Image: http://latimesphoto.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/la-1012-pin08.jpg]
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-02-28 00:12
  Yeah, I heard about that but forgot to update this.
  
  Unfortunately the same bill is up for vote in a few other states from what I've heard, so hopefully they are smart enough not to pass them.
• Yoorah wrote on 2014-02-28 01:42

  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoes 'anti-gay' bill
  
  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has vetoed a bill that would have allowed business owners who cited their religious beliefs to turn away gay customers.
  
  Ms Brewer said the bill could have had "unintended and negative consequences".
  
  It was touted as a religious liberty protection by social conservatives. Its opponents denounced it as legalising anti-gay discrimination.
  
  Business groups warned it would tarnish Arizona's reputation and discourage companies from moving to the state.
  
  'Creates problems'
  
  Speaking to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Ms Brewer, a Republican, said the bill did "not address a specific or present concern related to religious liberty in Arizona".
  
  "I have not heard one example in Arizona where a business owner's religious liberty has been violated," she said of the bill, which passed the state legislature last week with the strong backing of the state's Republican Party.
  
  Ms Brewer spent Wednesday huddling with both supporters and opponents of the bill and said she had vetoed it because she believed it had "the potential to create more problems than it purports to solve".
  
  "It could divide Arizona in ways we cannot even imagine and nobody could ever want," she said.
  
  In doing so, Ms Brewer sided with the business community - including firms such as Intel, Yelp and Marriott, as well as Major League Baseball and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce.
  
  Loud cheers erupted outside the Arizona capitol building immediately after the governor announced the veto.
  
  Rebecca Wininger, president of Equality Arizona, told the BBC the veto was "a clear message for those trying to use religion and those with right-leaning rhetoric that we're done... we're tired and we're done with being discriminated against".
  
  Even as the federal government, the military, the courts, other states and US public opinion increasingly back gay rights and same-sex marriage, some states have seen the makings of a backlash in recent weeks, analysts say.
  
  "Religious liberty" bills similar to the Arizona measure have been introduced in seven other US states, but Arizona's was the only legislature to send a bill to the governor.
  
  'Distorted the bill'
  
  The bill would have expanded the state's religious liberty law to add protection from lawsuits for individuals or businesses that cited their "sincerely held" religious beliefs as motivating factors in taking an action or refusing to do so.
  
  All but three Republicans in the state legislature voted for the proposal, known as SB1062, but some Republican state senators who voted for the bill subsequently called for a veto.
  
  "We were uncomfortable with it to start with and went along with it thinking it was good for the caucus," Senator Steve Pierce told the Associated Press news agency on Monday.
  
  "We really didn't want to vote for it. But we made a mistake, and now we're trying to do what's right and correct it."
  
  But supporters, framing it as only a modest update on the state's existing religious freedom law, had pushed Ms Brewer to sign it in support of religious liberty.
  
  The president of a conservative policy organisation that backed the bill said Ms Brewer's veto "marks a sad day for Arizonans who cherish and understand religious liberty".
  
  "Opponents were desperate to distort this bill rather than debate the merits," Center for Arizona Policy president Cathi Herrod said in a statement.

  
  http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-26363704
  
  Business sense prevails, as expected.
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-02-28 02:02
  The TL;DR version being "We're not saying discrimination is bad, we just don't want to lose money from all the people who think it is boycotting us."
• Ashikoki wrote on 2014-02-28 02:04
  Here's the more accurate version of how it went down:
  
  

  PHOENIX (The Borowitz Report)—The state of Arizona found itself in the middle of a conundrum today as it awoke to the awkward realization that gay people have money and buy stuff.
  
  Just days after the Arizona legislature passed a law that would enable businesses to discriminate against gays, it emerged that gays spend billions of dollars in Arizona each year—an unexpected development that seemed to take many legislators by surprise.
  
  Carol Foyler, a Tea Party Republican who supported the anti-gay law, said that the startling bombshell that gays play a role in the state’s economy put her and her fellow lawmakers “in a tight spot.”
  
  “Quite frankly, we were blindsided by this,” she said. “We had no idea that gays had money and bought things just like regular people do.”
  
  Acknowledging that her vote for the anti-gay law might have been calamitous for the state’s economy, Ms. Foyler placed the blame for it squarely on the shoulders of one group: the gays themselves.
  
  “How was I supposed to know what gay people do with their money, etc., when I don’t personally know any gay people?” she asked. “I’m sorry, but it was up to the gays to tell us.”

  
  
  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2014/02/arizona-confronting-awkward-realization-that-gay-people-have-money-buy-stuff.html
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-02-28 04:50

  Quote from Ashikoki;1202729:

  Here's the more accurate version of how it went down:
  
  

  PHOENIX (The Borowitz Report)—The state of Arizona found itself in the middle of a conundrum today as it awoke to the awkward realization that gay people have money and buy stuff.
  
  Just days after the Arizona legislature passed a law that would enable businesses to discriminate against gays, it emerged that gays spend billions of dollars in Arizona each year—an unexpected development that seemed to take many legislators by surprise.
  
  Carol Foyler, a Tea Party Republican who supported the anti-gay law, said that the startling bombshell that gays play a role in the state’s economy put her and her fellow lawmakers “in a tight spot.”
  
  “Quite frankly, we were blindsided by this,” she said. “We had no idea that gays had money and bought things just like regular people do.”
  
  Acknowledging that her vote for the anti-gay law might have been calamitous for the state’s economy, Ms. Foyler placed the blame for it squarely on the shoulders of one group: the gays themselves.
  
  “How was I supposed to know what gay people do with their money, etc., when I don’t personally know any gay people?” she asked. “I’m sorry, but it was up to the gays to tell us.”

  
  
  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2014/02/arizona-confronting-awkward-realization-that-gay-people-have-money-buy-stuff.html

  
  
  +rep
• Kazusa Touma wrote on 2014-02-28 05:51

  “We had no idea that gays had money and bought things just like regular people do.”

  
  
  LOL