The most depressing part of this is the involvement of the state university’s journalism school.
“This (bill) is not a discrimination bill,” state Rep. Adam Kwasman (R) said. “It makes no mention of sexual orientation.”
The fact-checking group — a collaboration between the Arizona Republic, KPNX and Arizona State University’s journalism school — rated that statement “true.” It reached that conclusion because the bill doesn’t explicitly mention sexual orientation and Arizona law doesn’t protect gay people through its anti-discrimination statute.
The collaborative group have since updated their stance from “true” to “somewhat true, somewhat false,” but even that is ridiculous.
SB1062 would have provided a shield to those who refuse service for religious reasons. It’s a discrimination bill. To reach any other conclusion you have to ignore all context including the stated motives of those who pushed for passage of the bill.
The good news is Governor Jan Brewer vetoed the bill under immense pressure to do so, but “journalism” took a hit today.