John Kasich on Religious Freedom Bills

“The idea that we’re just gonna sue one another for all these things and cause this problem. Things were going along quite well after the Supreme Court decision, so people were using this to some degree as a wedge issue. When you get in the middle of [the religious liberty issue] there’s no easy answer. So you know what I think? Let it go. Respect people that they are different than we are because that’s just the way it is. And to get in this business of that I’m not gonna serve you because you’re a certain way. Come on folks! We have to live together. What do we want, more laws? How about a little more tolerance, a little more respect.”

source

Dr. John Corvino on Religious Liberty Laws

Activist Dr. John Corvino went on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos yesterday to discuss the rise of these Anti-LGBT laws.

Kristen Waggoner, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom was also there, defending Hate as usual, but John said this little nugget of wisdom that brought everything to perspective:

“The idea that this is about safety and security, it’s kind of like when somebody says that they ate all the ice cream in order to make room in the freezer. I mean it’s just obvious that that’s not the real reason. This is about discrimination, particularly against transgender people. And one of the reasons that’s really sad is that our nation’s history of protecting religious liberty has traditionally been about protecting marginalized groups, protecting people of minority faiths against the majority who try to marginalize them. Instead, we have a perversion of the notion of religious liberty to further marginalize people who are already vulnerable. There are absolutely no cases of transgender people trying to use these laws in order to commit assault or to threaten people’s safety in bathrooms. Whereas there are many cases of transgender people suffering bullying and assault and violence because they can’t have a safe and comfortable bathroom to use.”

Very true

In Missouri: Democratic State Senators Filibuster Anti-Gay Religious Freedom bill UPDATED

UPDATE They are still going. The Democratic state senate members are pushing to 40th hour mark. This is very historic and powerful to see.

Listen here as these brave folks fight for equality

There's some interesting news coming from Missouri.

The Republican state senate introduced SJR 39, a constitutional amendment that would allow religious folks and organizations to discriminate against LGBT people. In other-words, it's Anti-gay as f**k!

For some reason they thought it would fine, until the Dems saw through their foolishness. The Democratic senators got together to filibuster this messy ass bill. So far, these senators have been at it for over 20 hours, hoping to stop the vote on SJR 39.

Led by Democratic Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, these senators are out there fighting against SJR 39. Many of them are speaking for 3-4 hours a piece.

Sen. Scott Sifton, from St. Louis, spoke passionately about his gay family members and how this bill is nothing but pure discrimination.

“I would oppose this amendment just as vigorously even if I didn’t have immediate family members who are potentially implicated by it. I honor who my father is, I honor who my uncle is and I stand and fight not just for them, but also for the thousands of constituents I have that are very much targeted by this amendment.”

They are still going strong as I post this. If you're curious, you can listen to the whole sha-bang here

Mississippi House Panel moves Anti-LGBT Bill forward

The South just keeps on serving up these discrimination bills.

In Mississippi, House Speaker Philip Gunn presented a religious liberty bill that is pure Anti-LGBT legislation. It's called the “Religious Liberty Accommodations Act,” or H.B. 1523.

In this messy bill, someone/business/whatever could use religion to justify their discrimination not only to us in the LGBT community, but to unwed mothers, veterans and others. Under this bill, faith-based organizations could openly deny us of everything. Adoption, schools, homes, business regardless if the organization or business receive government funding.

H.B. 1523 would also give foster families the power to force a queer kid to conversion therapy, and deny trans people access to facilities, that matches their gender identity. Sadly, that's not all. There's more to this heinous bill.

The House Judicial Committee received H.B. 1523 due a 14-3 vote. I hope it dies, but then again... It's Mississippi.

If you're curious about what's in the bill, read it here

In Florida: An Extreme Religious Freedom Bill Introduced

Foolishness in Florida!

State Rep. Julio Gonzalez filed a religious freedom bill that is completely bogus and ridic. HB 401 is Gonzalez's response to (as he claims) the erosion of religious liberty.

This bill basically denies LGBT peeps regular access to everything things like, medical care and for-profit businesses.

Here's more from Equality Florida:

“This extreme bill doesn’t affirm existing law; it goes much further than that. In addition to churches, it would allow individuals, for-profit businesses, health care providers, non-profit adoption agencies and others to discriminate against anyone they want, for personal reasons.

Legal experts say this bill is even worse than the disastrous Indiana bill that sparked a nationwide backlash. Indiana’s governor called a hasty special session to repeal that costly mistake.

Not only would passing this bill tell the rest of the country that Florida is a mean-spirited, discriminatory state. It would also allow a healthcare provider to deny reproductive and contraceptive services to women; retailers to refuse service to LGBT people; a day care to refuse admittance of a child with LGBT parents, and many other outcomes we believe most people would find deeply unfair.”

Read it here:

HB 401 - Protection of Religious Freedom (Florida)