Good news everyone, even if Arizona’s Jim Crow for Gays bill does become law, there’s nothing to worry about because people in Arizona are “people-friendly.”
During an interview with Anderson Cooper, Arizona state Senator Al Melvin (R), who voted for the law, implied that there’s no discrimination in Arizona.
via TPM
So Cooper asked Melvin if he could cite a case where religious freedom was “under attack” in Arizona. Melvin bizarrely responded “not now, no, but how about tomorrow?”
Cooper then tested Melvin with a hypothetical: what if he were a loan officer, and thought it was against his religious beliefs to do business with an unwed mother or a divorced woman?
That’s when Melvin’s argument imploded. “I think you’re being farfetched,” the lawmaker told Cooper.
“I don’t know of anybody in Arizona that would discriminate against a fellow human being,” he later added.
“Really? Discrimination doesn’t exist in Arizona?” Cooper asked.
“Well, maybe you ought to move to Arizona,” the lawmaker responded. “We’re more people-friendly here, apparently.”
If that’s the case, why did Melvin and his colleagues draft and vote for SB1062?
SB1062, the Jim Crow for Gays bill, shields those who discriminate from legal repercussions, effectively giving you a pass to discriminate.
If there’s no discrimination in Arizona, why do they need special protection for discriminating?
This idea that there’s no one in Arizona that would “discriminate against a fellow human being” is laughable.
Arizona is home to the infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio, former state Senate president Russell Pearce who palled around with Neo-Nazis, and in recent years the state found itself in front of the Supreme Court defending its “Papers Please” anti-immigration law SB1070 (drafted by Pearce) which codified racial profiling of brown people.
There’s plenty of precedent to assume that there are people in Arizona who would take advantage of a law that gives them free rein to discriminate.