Time Travel: SB 1062

At the Arizona Capitol for the "peaceful mobilization" against SB1062; I saw my friends, Brennan & Jordan Hays and their dad, Kirk. Brennan is right– SB1062 is crazy, even for Arizona!

Certain Arizona Senators and Representatives have proven time travel is possible; they have taken Arizona back to pre-Civil Rights Era legislation with SB 1062 / HB 2153. 

Here's a run down of the legislators (to vote out of office):

courtesy of Steve Marmel's FB page

Here's an overview of the bill: 

flow chart courtesy of Geoff Coffey

If you think I am exaggerating, listen to the Senator who authored the bill, Al Melvin. He thinks Anderson Cooper asking,  "If someone gets fired because they are gay or lesbian, is that discrimination?" is a "set up". Watch here.

And, continuing the series, "Can CNN find supporters of this bill who aren’t obvious homophobes", when we see the reaction of the director of Christian Business Networking when asked if gay business owners would be welcome to join the network we are left to wonder how this is NOT directly aimed at marginalizing and excluding based on sexual orientation. Watch through 60 seconds here. (I really wish I could embed these vids.; don't skip watching them- they are worth it.)

You may have noticed in the clip they showed protesters, or "Peaceful Mobilizers" in front of the state capitol (around 30 seconds). I was among them friday afternoon after the bill had passed both legislatures. All we can hope for now is that Governor Jan Brewer VETOS this bill. 

There were several people holding the signs I created. They looked basically like this:

"I don't serve REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS" as in- it is against my religious beliefs to provide services for lawmakers who pass bigoted, persecutory and discriminatory legislation.

I was the one holding the really big sign that (basically) looks like the one above. I printed extras to hand out in case anyone needed a sign because a protest is much more fun with a sign. You can see the corner of my head in the photo below.

This photo is taken from the article written in The Christian Science Monitor

 In fact, three senators who voted FOR the bill are now urging Governor Brewer to Veto it. I guess they are having a case of "signers remorse"; if that isn't an indication of poor legislation, I don't know what is.

3 GOP senators’ about-face

On Monday, three Republican senators who have been Brewer’s allies changed course and asked her in a letter to veto the legislation.

They had voted for SB 1062 on Wednesday, but said they grew to regret the vote, especially after seeing the firestorm of negative publicity it had created for Arizona.

Sen. Bob Worsley of Mesa, a co-sponsor of the bill, signed the letter along with Sen. Steve Pierce of Prescott and Senate Majority Whip Adam Driggs of Phoenix. Worsley said the bill would not change state law in any material way, yet would harm the state’s business climate and reputation.

You can read the article "Brewer pressed to veto SB 1062" and watch a news clip at azcentral.com.

Now that you know how I feel about this bit of discrimination, erh- legislation, what do you think about it?