This is what all the rage is about?
Aww, the supporters of discrimination are sad that Indiana and Arkansas have backed away from laws legalizing it. Some of them try to pretend it's not all about being able to discriminate against LGBT people:
But the sudden spate of state religious rights laws proposed or passed in just the last two years was prompted by alarm over the Supreme Court’s decision in the Windsor case in 2013 that required the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages from states that allowed such unions, said Mr. Schultz, who last year spun off his work into an independent organization. “I think the dividing line is the Windsor case,” he said. “It’s the dividing line that explains culturally why in the last two years, people have had an interest in the issue.”
What do you know. America steps toward marriage equality, and suddenly "religious freedom" becomes a giant concern, but it's not about discrimination! Just freedom. Of course, some aren't even bothering to pretend it's not about the right to discriminate:
“It’s like paying ransom to a captor, and will put people of faith in the cross hairs of gay activists who will use this new legislation as a weapon to force people of faith to participate in same-sex ‘marriage’ ceremonies and other activities that violate their deeply held religious beliefs,” said Brian Brown, the president of the National Organization for Marriage, in a statement. “Refusing to be part of a same-sex ‘wedding’ is not discrimination, but this new legislation treats it as such.”
Whoa. Ransom, captor, cross hairs, weapon. Scary stuff. But let's get back to basics. When you are a business owner, and your business provides a specific service to some people and you refuse that service to other people, that is discrimination. No one is saying anyone has to attend, as an individual, any wedding they don't want to. But businesses are another story, and yes, if a business provides a service to couple A, it's discrimination not to provide it to couple B. The United States has been through this story before, not even so very long ago, and yet some people are still trying to keep us confused on the concept.