Quickies: Gay Segregation Bill Vetoed * Homophobes Lose Their Minds * Lobbiest Tries to Ban Gay Football Players * Anti-Gay Policies Drive Millenials from Religion
By Hello everybody!
Today is one hell of a day for queer people. Of course, for part of it it shouldn’t have to be, but you take your victories where you can get them.
Governor Jan Brewer Vetoes Gay Segregation Bill in Arizona – It’s good to see that she’s capable of doing the right things every once in a while. It’s probably due to pressure from business groups rather than having developed a conscience at some point, but the result remains the same.
But you know what makes me happy? Watching religious bigots lose their damn minds over this. My favorite is Todd Starnes asking whether Muslim bakeries have to participate in same-sex weddings. Yes, asshole, they do. That’s how anti-discrimination laws work.
A GOP lobbyist is trying to make a name for himself is pushing for a ban on gay players in the NFL. Because what makes for a good lobbyist is the inability to recognize what legislators can and can’t do. Forget the bigotry for a second, this is a conservative saying that the government should tell a private business who they aren’t allowed to hire. Sad thing? He’ll probably get all sorts of work from this. Bonus: he also thinks Muslims are “savages” because they make their women wear veils and doesn’t know why feminists don’t seem to talk about this, proving he hasn’t actually listened to any feminists ever.
And good news for us queer anti-theists: according to at least one survey, one-third of Millennials who have left their faith did so because of negative teachings and attitudes toward homosexuality. This is entirely unsurprising, to be honest, but I find it heartening.
I have really bad news. It’s still not illegal to discriminate against gays in Arizona, so the Muslims don’t have to participate, and neither do the Christians.
That’s the worst part about this, what should’ve been a slam dunk veto was a huge issue, and even though Brewer vetoed it, it doesn’t actually get us anywhere, because AZ has no anti-discrimination law protecting LGBT people.
This is very true, and I’m writing something about it right now. This was not vetoed because suddenly a bunch of people decided it was wrong, it’s because they were afraid of losing money which so far hasn’t been an issue with the lack of protection. Maybe this can be parlayed into asking for that as well, so long as people were getting ready to boycott anyway.
Let’s hear it for queer anti-theists! Woot!