Thoughts on Arizona's Anti-Gay, Pro-Discrimination Bill

As I wait to find out if Arizona Governor Jan Brewer will veto the very controversial  bill SB 1062 that would make it legal to discriminate against LGBT's by allowing businesses to refuse service because of their personal religious convictions, I have tried to read as much as I could online about the bill. Having read as much as I could find on this bill, I have come to realize just exactly how wrong these religious conservatives are. All of the conservatives who voted for this bill claim to be Christians. They try and spin the intent of the law to say that it would protect all religions from discrimination from the 'radical left and the powerful LGBT lobby'. Conservatives claim that they should be allowed to refuse to serve people that they disagree with on religious grounds when they are at work, even if the work they do does not involve a church or religious organization. So cake makers can refuse to make wedding cakes for a gay or lesbian couple. Photographers can refuse to take wedding pictures for gays and lesbians. Print companies can refuse to print invitations to gay and lesbian weddings. You get the idea.

The problem with the law is not only does it make LGBT discrimination legal, it is so broad that it goes way beyond the LGBT discrimination it so obviously and unconstitutionally is intended to allow. Under this law a Muslin cab driver can refuse the fare of a single woman because he would be alone in the car with a woman he is not related to, a no no in some Muslim sects. The manager of a hotel could refuse to let an unmarried couple who live together rent a room. A waitress could legally refuse to serve a pregnant woman that she knows is not married. The list goes on and on.

Now remember, the people who created and voted for this bill's passage all consider themselves to be Christians. This means they are supposed to try and behave as Jesus taught in the Bible. Jesus, the middle aged man with Socialist ideas, who condemned the rich, told people to pay their taxes, spent much of his life helping the poor, told his followers to love one another just as he loved them (unconditionally), and healed people for free. Are these 'Christians' acting as Christ would want them to act with this law? I don't think so.

This is a horrible, discriminatory, and unconstitutional bill. Even if it eventually is made a law of the state of Arizona it would most definitely be appealed and eventually struck down by higher courts. In the past few days people, organizations, and businesses have voiced their opposition to this bill including many congressmen both state and federal, businesses already in Arizona as well as some considering moving to the state, and even three of the GOP congressmen who voted for the bill and have come to regret their vote afterward. Let us hope that Gov. Brewer listens to all the voices of reason that have been urging her to veto this bill. Let us also hope that the other states considering similar bills come to their senses before it gets this far.

Please veto bill SB 1062 Governor Brewer!