Indiana's freedom of religious discrimination

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Tue Apr 12, 2016 1:17 pm

Jimmy fucking Buffet cancels future NC shows.

Buffett condemns the law on his blog and says he thinks most of his fans feel the same way. But he says fans bought tickets long before the law was enacted last month.

He adds: "I am not going to let stupidity or bigotry trump fun for my loyal fans this year."
...
But in a blog post he says scheduling of future shows will depend on whether the law is repealed.

TN deciding whether or not the state wants to watch a billion dollars float away.

The sponsor of a Tennessee transgender bathroom bill told a Senate committee Tuesday that he has to consider a state attorney general’s opinion before going forward.

Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville, told the Senate Finance Ways and Means Committee that he wanted another day to consider an opinion that State Attorney General Herbert Slatery issued Monday that said that federal education funding could be placed at risk if the measure becomes law. A fiscal analysis said the bill could cost the state more than $1.2 billion in federal money for K-12 and higher education.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 1:38 pm

NC didn't need that 3 mil anyway.

The North Carolina "bathroom" law, also known as HB2, put in place a statewide policy banning individuals from using public bathrooms that don't correspond to their biological sex at birth. It also stopped cities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances to protect gay and transgender people. The law has faced staunch opposition from gay rights groups since it was passed in March and provoked a wider backlash. Celebrities including Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr and Pearl Jam have canceled concerts in North Carolina. The city of Raleigh has already lost around $3 million in lost tourism and business cancellations, according to the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau. Dennis Edwards, the bureau's president and CEO, told the Guardian last week that another 16 bookings worth $44 million are at risk.

Post by **TheCatt** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 2:35 pm

NC State Senate Leader Defends Bill

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Thu Apr 21, 2016 2:43 pm

TheCatt wrote:NC State Senate Leader Defends Bill

“My job is not to give in to the demands of multimillionaire celebrities pushing a pet social agenda, liberal newspapers like The New York Times, big corporations who have every freedom to set whatever policies they wish under this law,” Berger said.

"... unless they throw $25K my way next election campaign, then I'll make shit happen."

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Tue Jun 28, 2016 1:37 pm

States must issue licenses for gay marriages, regardless of the other bullshit they try to pull.

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves issued a permanent injunction Monday that bans circuit clerks or staff clerks from refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, regardless of a new state law that would have allowed the refusal, The Clarion-Ledger reports.

Republican Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill in April that protects people who refuse service because of their sincerely-held religious beliefs on marriage, premarital sex and gender. The law came after the Obergefell ruling, where the Supreme Court recognized same-sex marriage nationwide, as well as a string of cases where people faced legal action for refusing to service gay weddings.

Eat a dick, Phil. If you want to run your state based on religious beliefs, there are plenty of other places to go.

Post by **TPRJones** » Tue Jun 28, 2016 2:36 pm

Got to watch out for those pesky Muslims trying to enact their sharia law all the time. Ugh.

EDIT: Oh, sorry, this is Christians doing the same thing? Never mind, that's just fine of course, and in no way hypocritical.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 1:16 pm

Holy shit. Look who's up for second banana to the orangutan.

And hey, look what happened to another state that thinks they live in a theocracy.

U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves late Thursday night issued an injunction blocking a bill by the Mississippi legislature that would have allowed private citizens and some public officials professing a “sincere religious belief” to deny services to gays and lesbians.

Post by **TPRJones** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 1:23 pm

These laws wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so biased. Any law that allows a person to claim to have a religious reason to not serve someone will need to be usable by anyone to apply to anyone for any reason, not just for a small arbitrary number of reasons that appeal only to a single religion.

If the law can't allow gays to refuse to serve Christians just as easily as it allows Christians to refuse to serve gays then it's a morally corrupt law.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 1:28 pm

TPRJones wrote:These laws wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so biased. Any law that allows a person to claim to have a religious reason to not serve someone will need to be usable by anyone to apply to anyone for any reason, not just for a small arbitrary number of reasons that appeal only to a single religion.

If the law can't allow gays to refuse to serve Christians just as easily as it allows Christians to refuse to serve gays then it's a morally corrupt law.

I think we need to found a company where we produce religions for people, customized for their own prejudice and bias, as a way to get around legal impasses. You in?

Post by **TPRJones** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 2:31 pm

No thanks. I'd rather make money for literally eating shit. It would feel less dirty.

Post by **Troy** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:08 pm

Malcolm wrote:
TPRJones wrote:These laws wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so biased. Any law that allows a person to claim to have a religious reason to not serve someone will need to be usable by anyone to apply to anyone for any reason, not just for a small arbitrary number of reasons that appeal only to a single religion.

If the law can't allow gays to refuse to serve Christians just as easily as it allows Christians to refuse to serve gays then it's a morally corrupt law.
I think we need to found a company where we produce religions for people, customized for their own prejudice and bias, as a way to get around legal impasses. You in?

Sounds like something John Oliver and his Weekly show team would do.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:23 pm

I wonder if they buy ideas. Didn't the dude from Amazon patent one-click buying to point out how stupid IP laws are?

Post by **Vince** » Sun Jul 03, 2016 4:25 pm

The lack of self awareness in this conversation is mind boggling.

Post by **Vince** » Tue Jul 05, 2016 9:40 am

Good thing they're gay...

In addition, Spark Networks agreed to pay the plaintiffs in the case $9,000 each, as well as $450,000 in legal fees to their attorneys. It did not admit any wrongdoing in the matter.

... because their lawyers pounded them in the ass.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Sun Nov 20, 2016 8:21 pm

Texas Baptists demonstrate the love and mercy of their god.

As soon as the Dallas church completed its vote, the Baptist General Convention of Texas started proceedings to kick the church out of the denominational body. “All Texas Baptists are loving, respectful and welcoming to all people. But while we are welcoming, we are not affirming,” said a spokesman for the denominational association, which often goes by the name Texas Baptists.

That last sentence, just wtf? What in the fuck kind of psychological sleight of hand did someone pull to make you believe there's width down which to split that hair? Oh yeah, so here's what this congregation did that was so fucking awful.

The youth would want to marry a man. And in that moment, as in other moments in recent years, Mason realized something that would have shocked him when he started out as a pastor 37 years ago: He would want to officiate at that gay wedding.
...
Now, after putting the issue to a contentious popular vote that has torn his congregation, Mason, 60, can do just that. Wilshire Baptist Church voted 577 to 367 to welcome LGBT people as full participants in every aspect of the church — as members, as lay leaders, as potential clergy, and yes, as brides and grooms.

Hmm, how did the pastor come to this decision?

“It became increasingly difficult for me to justify, as I kept looking in the eyes of people that I loved and seeing the presence of Christ in them, and as I honestly looked at the Scripture and realized that it was not as clear as I thought it was,” Mason said. Those passages that say homosexuality is sinful? As Mason read them again, over the course of months of study with his congregants, he came to see them as narrower condemnation of abusive sexual practices of biblical times, not condemnation of loving homosexual relationships.

Holy shit. You mean he actually read the bible and interpreted the words on his own without someone of higher office standing over his shoulder telling him what to think? Fucking blasphemy.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Wed Mar 01, 2017 3:12 pm

Texas, surprise surprise, is trying to screw gay people again.

Opponents are suing the city of Houston over its decision to extend benefits to same-sex spouses of city employees.
...
Conservative lawyers argue that the 2015 decision by the US Supreme Court in Washington, Obergefell v Hodges, does not contain language specifically extending benefits to gay spouses.

"Obergefell may require states to license and recognize same-sex marriages, but that does not require states to give taxpayer subsidies to same-sex couples," lawyers challenging Houston policy wrote in a court filing.

Translation: Hey, somebody forgot to cross their "t," let's use that minor loophole to our advantage and unofficially make same-sex marriage a second-class variety.

Houston officials say they had no choice but to offer the benefits, since the law requires same-sex married couples to be extended the same rights as heterosexual married couples.

Most likely because they're literate.

Post by **TPRJones** » Wed Mar 01, 2017 3:56 pm

Probably also because our mayor at the time was in a same-sex relationship herself, so she was less ignorant on the topic than some politicians.

Post by **Leisher** » Thu Oct 26, 2017 10:04 pm

A couple of tech firms have signed on as "friends of the court" in support of LGBT's war against bakers.

Post by **Leisher** » Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:19 am

SCOTUS rules in favor of the baker.

CNN calls it a narrow victory, but the vote was 7-2.

Post by **Vince** » Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:33 am

Leisher wrote: SCOTUS rules in favor of the baker.

CNN calls it a narrow victory, but the vote was 7-2.

I don't think they meant to imply that the vote in the ruling was narrow, but rather the scope of the ruling was narrow. Colorado pretty much told the baker that he had no freedom to practice his religion. Instead of saying he had a right to practice his religion and it was at odds with the rights of the gay couple, they just dismissed the part of the first amendment that applied to the baker (and pretty much told the baker that). The court just said that they have to weigh the rights of the baker against the rights of the gay couple, and that the state of Colorado didn't do that. They really didn't rule that bakers do not have to bake gay wedding cakes. I suspect that ruling might have been closer or gone the other way. I think they kicked the can down the road.

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