Where TN homophobes failed, AZ has once again succeeded.
By a 33-27 vote the Arizona legislature passed SB 1062, a bill that would grant businesses the right to refuse service to anyone, as long as servicing said individuals would be a substantial burden to their religious freedom.
According to state Senator Yarbrough, the bill is intended to prevent discrimination, that is religious discrimination. Though it was intended to be anti-gay, the broad mandate of the legislation gives businesses the right to discriminate against anyone, as long as they can make a religious claim that refusing service was consistent with their religious beliefs. The problem with such legislation, of course, is that religious freedom is entirely up to the individual, so they could discriminate against gays, minorities, people of other religions, or anyone they choose to refuse.
Arizona Senate Democratic Leader Anna Tovar condemned the legislation in a statement released shortly after the vote.
"SB 1062 permits discrimination under the guise of religious freedom. With the express consent of Republicans in this Legislature, many Arizonans will find themselves members of a separate and unequal class under this law because of their sexual orientation. This bill may also open the door to discriminate based on race, familial status, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability.
"Legislation of this kind has been attempted this year in Kansas, South Dakota, Tennessee and Idaho. Each of those attempts failed after prominent members of the business community spoke against the measures. While our state continues to recover from the public relations nightmare of SB 1070, the Republican supporters of this bill are willing to elicit the inevitable backlash and boycotts that will result from its passage.
"Arizona does not need this bill, Arizonans do not want this bill and there is no place for this bill in our modern society. We have come too far to turn back the clock with such a disgraceful assault on members of our community based on their sexual orientation."
This is not the first time Arizona did this. Last time Governor Brewer vetoed the legislation. It's not clear that she will do so again, since there were other political issues on the table previously, that are not in play this time.
According to the New York Times:
Governor Brewer does not comment on pending legislation, but she vetoed a similar measure last year. That action, however, came during an unrelated political standoff, and it was not clear whether she would support this plan.
I find Yarbrough's and other people's sense of religious victimization on this subject to be quite disturbing. Sadly, it infects many regardless of race. I recently participated in a Tok discussion regarding the Oregon court decision against the bakery that refused to sell a gay couple a wedding cake. The discussion asked whether businesses should be allowed to choose who they served. I was astonished first at the 51% of participants that said yes. I was doubly astonished that many of these participants were racial minorities, and at least one self-identified gay man.
The African American participant that I challenged on this defended his position, even after I asked "what if it was your wife and daughter that were refused service?". I got similar pushback from the gay man.
I find such commitment to ones ideology to be a disturbing trend in American politics today. It's the same kind of commitment that afflicts the "Bette's" of the world. Refusing to get insurance through the exchanges and paying a fine, even if it means harming her and her husband. I'm having a hard time grappling with such a commitment to one's ideology.
I don't personally buy the "they're crazy" accusation. It feels to facile to me. Regardless, this level of cognitive dissonance is a dangerous trend, and I anticipate we'll continue to see more of these efforts in red states across the country. I believe it's inevitable that this will be passed into law and end up in the Supreme Court.