Kansas\u2019 Anti-Gay Segregation Bill Is an Abomination<\/a> by Mark Joseph Stern in Slate.<\/p>\nThe Text:<\/strong> On Tuesday, the Kansas House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a measure designed to bring anti-gay segregation\u2014under the guise of \u201creligious liberty\u201d\u2014to the already deep-red state. The bill, written out of fear that the state may soon face an Oklahoma-style gay marriage ruling, will now easily pass the Republican Senate and be signed into law by the Republican governor. The result will mark Kansas as the first state, though certainly not the last, to legalize segregation of gay and straight people in virtually every arena of life.<\/p>\nIf that sounds overblown, consider the bill itself. When passed, the new law will allow any individual, group, or private business to refuse to serve gay couples if \u201cit would be contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs.\u201d Private employers can continue to fire gay employees on account of their sexuality. Stores may deny gay couples goods and services because they are gay. Hotels can eject gay couples or deny them entry in the first place. Businesses that provide public accommodations\u2014movie theaters, restaurants\u2014can turn away gay couples at the door. And if a gay couple sues for discrimination, they won\u2019t just lose; they\u2019ll be forced to pay their opponent\u2019s attorney\u2019s fees. As I\u2019ve noted before, anti-gay businesses might as well put out signs alerting gay people that their business isn\u2019t welcome.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg. In addition to barring all anti-discrimination lawsuits against private employers, the new law permits government employees to deny service to gays in the name of \u201creligious liberty.\u201d This is nothing new, but the sweep of Kansas\u2019 statute is breathtaking. Any government employee is given explicit permission to discriminate against gay couples\u2014not just county clerks and DMV employees, but literally anyone who works for the state of Kansas. If a gay couple calls the police, an officer may refuse to help them if interacting with a gay couple violates his religious principles. State hospitals can turn away gay couples at the door and deny them treatment with impunity. Gay couples can be banned from public parks, public pools, anything that operates under the aegis of the Kansas state government.<\/p>\n
It gets worse. The law\u2019s advocates claim that it applies only to gay couples\u2014but there\u2019s no clear limiting principle in the text of the bill that would keep it from applying to gay individuals as well. A catch-all clause allows businesses and bureaucrats to discriminate against gay people so long as this discrimination is somehow \u201crelated to, or related to the celebration of, any marriage, domestic partnership, civil union or similar arrangement.\u201d (Emphases mine.) This subtle loophole is really just a blank check to discriminate: As long as an individual believes that his service is somehow linked to a gay union of any form, he can legally refuse his services. And since anyone who denies gays service is completely shielded from any charges, no one will ever have to prove that their particular form of discrimination fell within the four corners of the law.<\/p>\n
Supporting the bill on the House floor, Republican state Rep. Charles Macheers proclaimed that \u201cdiscrimination is horrible. It\u2019s hurtful. \u2026 It has no place in civilized society, and that\u2019s precisely why we\u2019re moving this bill.\u201d The latter claim is absurd, of course\u2014this bill is an explicit effort to make gay people\u2019s lives miserable\u2014but the former is absolutely true. Discrimination is hurtful and horrible, and it will also soon be codified into Kansas law, as other red states look on (and follow suit). Homophobes are nothing if not savvy, and while the judiciary dukes out the gay marriage issue, the shrewdest bigots have already moved on to the next battle. There might still be time to prevent such discrimination in bluer states. But in dark-red places like Kansas, anti-gay segregation is the new reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Article: Kansas\u2019 Anti-Gay Segregation Bill Is an Abomination by Mark Joseph Stern in Slate. The Text: On Tuesday, the Kansas House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a measure designed to bring anti-gay segregation\u2014under the guise of \u201creligious liberty\u201d\u2014to the already deep-red state. The bill, written out of fear that the state may soon face an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[259],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n