Senate Bill 1062 caused Arizona to make national headlines once again. And once again it didn't make the state look good. If you ask people in Arizona what SB 1062 is, you're bound to get some very passionate answers and opinions. It made national news because it came close to becoming law, passing the legislature and landing on Gov. Brewer's desk. To supporters it is not an "anti-gay" bill, it's a "pro-religious freedom" bill. But to a majority of American's it's just one more way to allow the religious right the ability to discriminate and then be protected by the government. Is it really protecting anyone or is it just a waste of time and tax payers dollars, that it what I'm going to look into.
So according to the advocate of this possible law, it really is no big deal all it does is update a law that Arizona already has in the books. It just allows for all these hypothetical business owners to tell a gay couple or person that they refuse service to them because it causes conflict with their religious beliefs. In a recent interview on CNN, Anderson Cooper asked state senator Nancy Barto for a specific example of cases going on in Arizona where business owners would need this protection and she couldn't come up with one, only a lot of hypothetical situations.
Trying to find people who oppose this bill won't be hard, it's the majority of Arizona's population and for that matter I'm sure the nation's. Looking at the massive crowds standing outside Gov. Brewer's office once it passed the legislature shows how passionate people are about this. Listening to all the large businesses who want to bring jobs here, second guess that action or national sports leagues vowing to take action if this bill became a law, should show politicians who are supposedly here to good for the state of Arizona what a disaster this is.
In my opinion SB1062 is really just a waste of taxpayer money and time. It is clearly obvious that Arizona doesn't need a law like this, we already have enough going on with immigration, poor education, drug cartels, over-crowded prisons, etc. If there is a gay couple out there looking for services from someone and they find out the business doesn't support that view point then go do business elsewhere. I wouldn't do business or give my money to someone who judges me, that would make me uncomfortable. It also works the other way around, if you are someone that believes so strongly against anything LGBT that you feel it would somehow mess up your moral compass, then make up a different reason why you can't service them. You are too busy, under staffed, already booked, or even going on vacation. Anything would be better then insulting them because that isn't very Christian-like. If both sides stuck to this, which they must be because I haven't heard of any cases, then that eliminates the need for this bill.
Work's Cited
Cooper, Anderson. "Where are the Discrimination Cases That Would Have Been Stopped by SB 1062" CNN (2014): web. 25 Sept. 2014
Has Arizona not learned anything from history. It makes me ashamed to say I live in Arizona. It is wrong to discriminate others based on their beliefs and I am surprised the bill even made to the governor's desk. What if we also started putting up signs saying "No Christians allowed" outside of businesses, what would happen then? It doesn't make sense to refuse service to anyone because they have different beliefs, if so then others businesses will be doing the same to them.
ReplyDeletePeople will always discriminate against others and their beliefs. We as people are set to deny anyone or assume the worst from them. I have tattoos and people quite often see me differently or they hive me certain looks. Now, I'm not a bad person and my tattoos shouldn't determine if I'm a good or bad person, just as well as people should discriminate anyone else for their beliefs.
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