Oh Hell No, Arizona! Unjust SB 1062 Must Die!

I've had the pleasure of visiting Arizona, driving across it twice via I-10 and counting many of its wonderful residents among my friends.

But just like here in Texas, their Republican controlled legislature is constantly coming up with new ways to not only embarrass themselves but the entire state.

The next time I get blessed with the opportunity to come to Tucson or the University of Arizona, definitely swinging by Rocco's Little Chicago Pizzeria. 

But back to the post in which I'm about to go Maya Wilkes on this issue. 

The Arizona conservafools may have gone too far this time with SB 1062, an unjust  'Right To Discriminate' bill that would allow people to cite religious beliefs when they deny service to anyone. 

We know what it says, but the real target of this law is the TBLG community.

It passed on a 17-13 party line vote in the Arizona Senate and all but three Republicans in the Arizona House backed the bill that passed there by a 33-27 margin.   It has now been sent to term limited Gov. Jan Brewer (R) for her signature.

Ohio, Kansas, Mississippi, Idaho, South Dakota, Tennessee and Oklahoma are the other states that have tried to pass similar unjust 'Religious Right To Discriminate' legislation but Arizona so far is the only one in which it made it out of their legislature.   The efforts to do so in Idaho, Ohio and Kansas.have been stalled

Arizona is the only one that has passed this unjust bill, and they are justifiably getting called out for it.  I especially loved this eloquent denunciation of it by George Takei.  

The only thing keeping Texas from following Arizona down this Gay Crow legislative road is because (praise the Lord) our legislature only meets in odd-numbered years.  If Governor Goodhair wanted to do the same thing he'd have to call a special session to do so. 

“We see a growing hostility toward religion,” said Josh Kredit, legal counsel for the conservafool group the Center For Arizona Policy that pushed for the passage of this unjust bill.   

Well, duh.  When you and your conservative sycophants like Cathi Herrod continue to cite and use 'religion' as a shield for your old school bigotry and your unjust laws, there is going to be an equal and opposite backlash from the people those unjust policies target. 

But I guess you peeps forgot (or ignored) what Galatians 6:7-9 (KJV) says about reaping what you sow.

⁷ Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
⁸ For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
⁹ And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

If you're sowing hatred toward BTLG people with unjust legislation and claiming you're doing so because of your 'religious beliefs', you're going to get it back.

Arizona's Republican legislators are not only getting worldwide condemnation for passing SB 1062, business leaders in the state are concerned that if Gov. Brewer signs the bill into law, it could trigger a fresh round of boycotts that could lead to the NFL pulling the 2015 Super Bowl out of the state just like they did in 1993 in the wake of then-Gov. Evan Mecham's boneheaded decision to rescind the MLK holiday. 

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council has already sent a letter to Gov. Brewer urging her to veto the bill, saying that it could affect Super Bowl XLIX and have “profound, negative” economic effects for years to come.   The conservative leaning Arizona Republic newspaper published an editorial urging her to veto SB 1062. 

There are also calls and e-mails being fielded by nervous convention planners in the state who remember the 1993 boycott and the one in the wake of the passage of SB 1070.  They have already heard the warnings that if she signs the bill, they are taking their convention business elsewhere.

And this has happened just as Arizona officials are trying to make a serious push to lure tech firms like Google out of California to the Grand Canyon State.

SB 1062 must die.  Gov. Brewer has a choice.  She can either do the right thing and by extension continue pushing the economic development of her state, or she can do the right wing thing and sign this unjust bill. 

But if Gov. Brewer makes that choice, she will not only cripple her state economically for years to come and cement its growing reputation as a bastion of hate, but give herself a permanent place in the history books among anti-human rights governors like Ross Barnett, Orville Faubus and George Wallace.

Choose wisely Gov. Brewer. 

TransGriot Update: And she did.   She announced her veto of SB 1062 on February 26