Last night Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed AZ SB 1062.
Supporters of SB 1062 claimed it defended religious freedom by allowing business people to “live their faith” by refusing service to people of whom they disapproved based on their sincerely held religious beliefs. Opponents claimed it codified religion into law and that it’s only purpose was to provide a shield against civil suits to those who wished to “live their hate” by discriminating against LGBT people.
Nationwide, the consensus was that the law was blatantly discriminatory. There was a real fear that people would refuse to visit Arizona and that businesses would refuse to do business in Arizona. Within the state, opposition included an unlikely coalition of Civil Rights groups, LGBT activists, leaders of the business community, economic development groups, the tourism industry and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. Even Tea Party sycophants like U.S. Senator Jeff Flake and several State Senators who voted for the bill urged the Governor to veto. Most surprising of all, some members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints were calling for a veto. Apparently the Mormons worried the law was not focused narrowly enough on the LGBT community and feared some Arizona fundamentalists would “live their faith” by discriminating against Mormons. The Mormons are protected by the (federal) Civil Rights Act but their concerns were not totally unfounded. Arizona has a long and, in some circles, proud history of ignoring federal law governing voting rights so the idea we’d ignore the laws governing civil right isn’t really that much of a leap of imagination.
AZ Governor Brewer
I thank Governor Jan for doing the right thing, albeit for the wrong reasons. In the world of real politik we must take our victories where we find them. Those of us who live, work, and shop in one of the three Arizona cities whose municipal civil rights ordinances include a ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation can rest a little easier. In the rest of the State, of course, it is business as usual. People are free to ‘live their hate’ that same way they always have. Hang a sign in their store window that says; “No Queers”. There is nothing that prohibits that.
What ultimately offended some Arizona conservatives about SB 1062, and offending Arizona conservatives is the only way a law gets vetoed in AZ, is the limitations it placed on their freedom of thought; what Queen Elizabeth I referred to as ‘making windows into men’s souls”. The law said conservatives were free to discriminate based on their sincerely held religious beliefs. With the exception of the three cities with municipal ordinances, it has never been necessary for a bigot in Arizona to have “sincerely held religious beliefs” before. The hate alone has always been enough.
Harper's Valley 
Governor Brewer was right to veto SB1062 but make no mistake about it, she didn’t veto it because she was concerned about legalizing discrimination, she vetoed it for business interests. What gets me is why the question of “religious freedom” is even “on the table” in Arizona. Has there ever been one documented case of a “Christian” being forced to provide a service (say, like making a wedding cake for a same sex couple) in Arizona? Of course not. There was that one case in Oregon (I think) so some of the Christian religious extremists (who go under the oh so quaint nom de plume of “Christian evangelicals like they’re angels or something but in reality just as extreme in their religious hatred as any extremist Muslim) go their panties all in a wad about. Make note though that there are other states that Karl Rove and his acolytes have indoctrinated that discrimination against The Gays is a sure vote getter (and money raiser which is the real reason they do it) for the hateful ignoramuses who comprise their Christian extremist right wing nut case religious base. I hope I made myself clear. 🙂
You are correct. There was a case in the Pacific NW. There was also a case in New Mexico which got a lot of media attention here in AZ. In both cases, the business people exposed themselves to civil action my violating their jurisdiction’s law about discriminating again people based on their sexual orientation.
Nope – the media is all over that and says there has never been a case like that in Arizona. All of these bills in Arizona, Kansas et al are all knee jerk reaction to the whole Sweet Cakes by Melissa and other ones where florists, and photographers have thrown a snit over marriage equality in some form.
What gets me – all of them, the baker, florist and photographer are all small business owners. And the first rule of busines is to make a profit. As they say, the money is always green. Or shades of other colors these days. And there is that odious “In God We Trust” that needs to be deleted from our money post haste.
The narrow-minded ness of the conservatives demonstrates their fear in dealing with reality and perhaps finding that all black and white rules are not reasonable, just, true, fair! It frightens me to see those who are so afraid of thinking!
I’m not surprised she signed it. I think she was loving all the media attention and thought she might milk it until the last minute but with the negative publicity mounting and putting similar bills at risk I think she thought enough was enough.
I was of the same mind. I thought if she was going to veto she’d do it in a big splash on Friday just in time for the evening news broadcasts. If she was signing, I figured it would be at 3:00 AM on Saturday.
Are there really instances of shop windows displaying “No Queers” signs in AZ? Someone (small “s”) should get some photos of that.