2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumAnti-gay bigots are doing the unthinkable: Reframing their stand as anti-oppression
Wingnuts most audacious lie yet: Quietly pretending their views are liberal!Aware they've lost the debate, anti-gay bigots are doing the unthinkable: Reframing their stand as anti-oppression
ELIAS ISQUITH
Following the state Senates lead, Republicans in Arizonas House of Representatives voted on Thursday in favor of a new bill to turn their states LGBT residents into second-class citizens. According to Arizona Republicans and their supporters throughout the country, they did this to protect religious liberty (a stark reminder that terrible decisions are often made in the name of an abstract good). Yet in spite of its lofty goal, in the real world, the bill, like bills put forward in Kansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, Hawaii and Mississippi, will become a weapon of exclusion and an impediment to the further integration of LGBT Americans into everyday life in America. A testament to ours being a time of universally recognized change on the issue of gay rights, social conservatives are mounting their most desperate assault on LGBT people since DOMA while utilizing the liberals language of inherent dignity and fundamental rights.
The bills differ somewhat in their particulars, but the basic thrust of each piece of legislation is the same: In the name of religious liberty, these laws would allow folks in both the private and the public spheres to refuse services to anyone whose behavior or assumed behavior they considered sinful. Own a restaurant but dont want any LGBT people to use it as the location for a same-sex weddings after-party? Not to worry: Even if your town has anti-discrimination laws currently on the books, you can avoid getting sued by simply claiming your reasons are religious in nature. If the guy sitting at the counter looks to you like he might be gay, go ahead and tell him to hit the road. Republicans defend you when you say youre not discriminating but rather trying to live in accordance with your faith.
Needless to say, these are odious bills, so patently designed to allow some Americans to deny the rights and dignity of others that the frequently made comparisons to Jim Crow are depressingly appropriate. And while there are some signs that even those who dont support the rights of LGBT citizens see this kind of legislation as a bridge too far, the Arizona example shows that this kind of legislation is a frighteningly real possibility for millions of Americans. As Evan Hurst, associate director of the pro-gay rights nonprofit Truth Wins Out, told David Corn of Mother Jones, One would think the GOP would like to be electable among people under 50 sometime in the near future and would thus avoid supporting Jim Crow-style anti-gay legislation. But at this point, it looks like thats an open question.
As retrograde as this kind of legislation is, however, theres something ironically modern even vaguely progressive about the arguments its supporters have put forward in its defense.
more
http://www.salon.com/2014/02/22/wingnuts_most_audacious_lie_yet_quietly_pretending_their_views_are_liberal/
PDJane
(10,103 posts)I guess they figure since it worked before, it will work again.
shenmue
(38,506 posts)These people need to go the hell away.
seattledo
(295 posts)The title doesn't make any sense.
LeftofObama
(4,243 posts)wingnuts who are being oppressed.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)poor, persecuted xtians. People aren't letting them get away with their hate.
JimDandy
(7,318 posts)a product (contraception) is not the equivalent of refusing to sell ANYTHING to a gay person. That BS is pure discrimination and can't be allowed to wrap itself in the cloak of religious freedom.
cpwm17
(3,829 posts)create your god in your own image and then use this god to rationalize your own selfishness.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Cha
(297,522 posts)proceed, idiots.
Behind the Aegis
(53,975 posts)"How dare you limit my ability to discriminate against you?! Freedom!!!"
YoungDemCA
(5,714 posts)..in the 1960s.
Exactly the same.
JoeyT
(6,785 posts)It's not really unthinkable. Every group of bigots pulls the same shit. When they find public opinion starting to turn against them, they always declare themselves to be the real oppressed minority. Fox is STILL doing it.