Mississippi Senate Passes Sweeping 'Religious Liberty' Bill

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Surtur
Well this is certainly a thing that happened.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/mississippi-senate-passes-sweeping-religious-liberty-bill-n548601

Or it's NBC news interpretation of it. Again I do stress that last part, NBC news *interpretation* of it.

Tattoos N Scars
What we have here are two clashing rights. Gays want equality under the law and to enjoy rights afforded all Americans. Many religious groups oppose same sex marriage and don't to be forced by the gov't to accept by performing services. In the end, someone's rights are being violated.

Tzeentch
"Separation of Church and State" makes it fairly clear which group is in the wrong. The first amendment grants the right to not be persecuted by the government for being affiliated with a certain religion. It is not the government's job to draft legislation that enables religions to practice their faiths.

"I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church & State." - Thomas Jefferson

Or, to put it another way: it breaks anti-discrimination laws to not hire someone due to their sexuality. So if it's illegal to not hire someone just because they're gay, why would it be legal to not serve a customer just because they're gay? Discrimination is discrimination.

cdtm
Protected classes are stupid anyways.

If a bigot doesn't want to serve me, I'll just shop somewhere else.

Bardock42
That can ultimately be very limiting, perhaps to the degree that you can't go about your daily life reasonably.

Tzeentch
Originally posted by cdtm
Protected classes are stupid anyways.

If a bigot doesn't want to serve me, I'll just shop somewhere else. It's easy to say that when you've never had to live in a scenario where there are no viable alternatives.

Have fun being a poor person living in the ghetto with no car, and the only store that's within walking distance is the liquor store on the corner which refuses to sell anything to you because "we only muslims, sorry".

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