The-Ave.US

Lee Bright has been the topic of a lot of posts here. Click the image.

Here’s why this thing about “I don’t wanna serve gay people because it’s against my religion” is wrong:
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1) It’s wrong as a matter of ethics. What you are required to do as a government employee is to treat all citizens equally. You don’t get to pick and choose what part of your job you’ll do based on your religion or any other part of your belief system. Your salary is paid for, in part, by gay people. Therefor, if you refuse to serve gay citizens then you are no better tha…n those bigoted White sheriffs who used to take money from Black citizens, in the form of taxes, and then turn the fire hoses on them when they tried to vote.
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2) It’s wrong as a matter of law. These state bills will not pass Constitutional muster. The “equal protection clause” of the 14th Amendment, which took effect in 1868, provides that no STATE shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction “the equal protection of the laws.” Don’t confuse this with Hobby Lobby. The reasoning in the Hobby Lobby case turned on fine points of law involving what government can require private employers to pay for. These state-specific “religious liberty” bills are not so nuanced. They are all obviously un-Constitutional and will all be struck down accordingly. The sponsors know this of course, of course, but they don’t care. What these bills are about is not protecting religious freedom. What they’re about is grandstanding.
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3) It’s wrong as a matter of basic decency. To the folks who support these bills I would propose a hypothetical: Imagine the shoe is on the other foot. Imagine that you were born into some group (let’s say people with blue eyes) that the members of some other group (people with brown eyes) have a “deeply held” objection to. So then a law is passed allowing browned-eyed people to turn you down for government service. How would that make you feel? If you can’t take that kind of hurt yourself, then don’t dish it out to others.
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I really hope Americans don’t get sucked any further into this foolishness of thinking the law doesn’t apply to them because they’re special. What makes this country great is the idea that one person’s religion . . . his money . . . his skin color . . . WHATEVER . . . doesn’t make him any “specialer” than anyone else.
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