Letter: Identifying star? / LJWorld.com

To the editor:

There is a serious flaw in both the anti-gay bill that passed the Kansas House and the bill passed by both houses in the Arizona Legislature. It lacks a process for identification, the first step in any effective discrimination act.

Refusing to serve African Americans in the segregated South was easy; you could identify them by the color of their skin. Arizona’s anti-immigration bill was similarly easy to enforce; you could usually tell Mexicans by the way they “looked.” But the gay, they look like us. They are our family members, our friends, our coworkers, our soldiers. They are us. Therefore, if these “religious belief protecting bills” are to be effective, they must take a page from the great master. Amend the bills to require all gays and lesbians to sew a pink star onto their clothing.

By the way, for anyone who thinks this is about religion, the same folks who support these bills because they believe homosexuality is a sin also tend to feel that believing in evolution is a sin. But I don’t hear anyone wanting to refuse service to scientists. Or might that be the next step?

Fred Mertz 11 months, 1 week ago

Two men or two women come into your store and say we would like you to cater our upcoming wedding......high probability they are gay.

You unwittingly (at least I think) made the argument that those who support this bill have made - homosexuality is not based on an individual identifying characteristic but an individuals actions.

Cille King 11 months, 1 week ago

It's possible that it's the bride and her sister, or the groom and his best man who come in - because the other one getting married isn't available or interested in the details.

Cille it could be but not in the case I described. I specifically stated "OUR upcoming wedding."

Nice try though.

Terry Thatcher 11 months, 1 week ago

Yes, it was a nice try. She destroyed your 'point' regardless of how you look at it. And this doesn't just affect bakers, wow.

How so Terry? Is it not a good indication that a couple is gay if they are the same sex and planning their wedding?

And who said anything about bakers? I said cater which could include some baking but generally goes beyond baking.

Had I picked bakers it would have been because that is the case that brought this issue to the forefront. I intentionally didn't pick a bakery for my point because.....it goes beyond one type of business.

But hey nice try too.

Rick Masters 11 months, 1 week ago

You're right - catering is completely different from baking. Due to this major detail, all of your arguments stand. Sorry, Terry, you lost.

Unfortunately, you both STILL lost. This would not affect just businesses in the wedding industry. Wow.

All you're doing is showing how shallow your thinking is, Terry. Even a goat could tell you that catering and baking is not just for weddings. And that means that everything Brock says from now on is correct. Now you lost again.

Rick, I never said they did, so your comment makes zero sense. Zero.

Shallow thinking, sure.

I think you need to put new batteries in your Sarcasm Detector, then go re-read how we got to this point.

Terry Thatcher 11 months ago

No, I got your sarcasm, it just wasn't useful or accurate.

Terry you do seem rather shallow in your thinking. The LTE writer said this type of discrimination lacked a process for identification. Unlike race how could the business owner even tell that someone was gay. I simply pointed out a real life situation that would reveal the sexual orientation of a person to the business owner.

Am I wrong that a business owner can tell if someone is gay and then discriminate against them for their sexual orientation? Why are your panties in a bunch over this observation anyway?

Open your mind Terry and set aside your biases. Gays shouldn't have to hide in a closet. They should be free to be themselves and yes that will identify their sexual orientation.

Ah, thanks for the put down, no matter how inaccurate it was.

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