Summations Only

The same bill is being considered by the legislators in my state. It is a direct reaction to the "Add the Words" campaign that is trying to get LGBT added to the protected classes list. They are trying to negate what is quickly becoming an inevitable extension of long derserved rights to the gay community.I do find that Republicans tend to lack a sense of irony. They are trying to push through a religious freedom act that actually allows public places to discriminate against people based on their religious beliefs. In a state that has a relatively large Mormon population, it could actually lead to people putting up signs that Mormons can not enter their place of business.

Nice to see that others use the same humor I do.

Sin is not the same thing as law. We are talking about laws that govern christians, muslims, jews, hindus, atheists, etc. These are secular laws, not edicts of a specific religion.If you open and operate a business you must comply with the laws of the land. If that includes not discriminating against people, then you are beholden to those laws. No different than being required to allow people of color sit at your lunch counter.Baking a cake or taking someone's picture does not equate to you personally validating their lifestyle. That is completely preposterous. I can't find anywhere in the Bible where it says that you can not bake a cake for a gay person. If its in there, please show us.Edited by Taq, : No reason given.

Sure. Just look at how well that worked in the South with segregation. Oh wait . . .

People made the same complaints when they outlawed segregation.

I don't think it is different. Blacks made up more of the population in the South than homosexuals do now. If keeping blacks out of your stores and places of business did not hurt them then, how would it hurt them now with an even smaller minority?/

It is worded in vague terms so that it isn't a straight up (pun intended) attempt to ban gays from businesses. It allows a business owner to deny service to anyone if it goes against their deeply held religious beliefs. This means that you could have stores that ban catholics, delis that won't bake cakes for interracial couples, wedding planners that will refuse service to Catholics, etc. It is an open license for people to use their businesses as a cudgel for their bigotry. It has no place in this country.

Freedom isn't segregation, which is what you are calling for.

Your argument boils down to this. It is ok to have a pro-bigotry bill because no one will actually take advantage of it. That seems like a really poor argument to me.

This business was doing just fine. Do you think segregation in the South stopped because people were going out of business?Edited by Taq, : No reason given.

The current attitudes towards sexual preference are no different than racism.

It is so widely tolerated that a pro-discrimination bill passed the state legislature in Arizona, and the same type of bill is being considered in many other states. Actually, it is more like the pre-Civil rights era when segregation was first considered and then enacted.

If I condemn pedophilia, does that mean that others are justified in condemning inter-racial marriages?

Please cite the verse where it says that you are not to do business with homosexuals.

You could always serve the public in a non-discriminatory fashion.Last I checked, baking a cake for a homosexual will not send you to Hell.