Discrimination never goes down without a fight. Now social conservatives and Republican lawmakers are steeling to protect the right to discriminate under the guise of passing "religious liberty" or "religious freedom" bills and they're admitting it.
A whole new crop of these "religious liberty" bills (similar Arizona's fateful SB 1062) are on the horizon now with the pervasive GOP majorities in state legislature across the nation.
Here's Zack Ford at ThinkProgress on an Indiana bill that's already in the works:
It’s not just LGBT advocates who think it’s a pro-discrimination bill; its own proponents admit it. Micah Clark of the American Family Association explained to The Indianapolis Star that the bill would allow small businesses to refuse services to same-sex couples and also that it would allow adoption agencies to refuse to place children with same-sex couples.
Proponents of right to discriminate bills often say they are based on the federal government's own Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. The problem is, that law was enacted to keep the government from infringing on the religious beliefs of citizens. In other words, it protected Americans from being stomped on by a larger, more powerful entity. If people felt the government was unfairly burdening them, they could take their claim to court.
But the new crop of bills often have an added feature like this:
Indiana’s bill would allow individuals to use their religious beliefs to defend themselves in court even if the state is not party to the case. Thus, this would allow a business owner to use their religious beliefs to justify refusing services for a same-sex couple’s wedding. As a state law, this would supersede any municipal nondiscrimination laws that protect LGBT people.
Not all RFRAs are exactly the same. They vary from the federal law in a variety of ways and some are more pernicious than others.
But whatever way you slice it, religious liberty/freedom have now become code for discrimination thanks to the fine work of social conservatives.
1:05 PM PT: UPDATE: A reader makes a good point—it's worth noting that it's already perfectly legal to discriminate against LGBT people in most of these states. Such discrimination is only prohibited in states or municipalities that have laws expressly prohibiting certain forms of discrimination (e.g. employment, housing, etc.) on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
2:06 PM PT: UPDATE 2: A lawyer reminds me that courts, including federal appeals courts, are increasingly taking the view that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 bars workplace discrimination on the basis of gender identity. So in some cases, good case law and/or Title VII can provide protections for transgender individuals against certain forms of discrimination. I wrote about it at length here: http://www.advocate.com/...