Staff Editorial: Arizona bill an atrocity to rights

Arizona is once again in the limelight for offensive legislation. Jan Brewer, governor of Arizona, decided to veto a bill allowing establishments to refuse service to openly gay and lesbian people under the justification of religious freedom.

Shamefully, this bill made it all the way to the governor’s chair, showing that the state legislature has agreed to pass such legislation.

Despite overwhelming opposition, even from the conservatives in Arizona, there was no definitive answer to how Brewer would respond until 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 26, when she vetoed the legislation. Yet, the real tragedy here is the fact that such a bill existed in the first place.

To deny anyone any sort of basic service based on gender, age, race, or sexual orientation is clear discrimination, an evil this country has fought hard to conquer.

The potential passage of this bill, even if just in one state, would have been a monumental step backward in human rights and basic civil liberties.

It is a whole other evil to execute such discrimination under the name of religious freedom, another civil liberty Americans have fought hard to maintain throughout history.

If people still think LGBT rights are a matter of religion then they need to wake up and realize that it is the 21st century. Just as the widely popular campaign suggests, love is love, and LGBT people are only asking to be allowed to love, as well as treated like all other human beings.

There are hundreds of different religions in America alone, and not all of them condemn homosexuality, but this bill is assuming as much. Thus, a bill declared for religious freedom is in fact hindering it by assuming that all the citizens of Arizona belong to the same religion and therefore deserve to be discriminated against if they disobey the doctrine.

Beyond the idiocy of declaring said bill as protecting religious freedom, it also encourages profiling of the worst sort. How are said establishments supposed to know a person is homosexual?

Of course, not all people of the same sexual orientation look or act the same. It would be akin to saying all people with brunette hair look and act the same.

If they are referring to PDA, how is the display of loving someone against the proprietor’s religion? By these standards, if an atheist comes in the protocol would be to refuse them services as well.

This bill was an atrocity, and if one believes in freedom, as our country does, then all should oppose future bills whole heartedly and make sure nothing like this ever occurs again.

Support human rights, and support people’s freedom.