So Arizona governor, scared that the state might lose money,
bragging rights and publicity from hosting the Super Bowl, vetoed Senate Bill
1062. In the summer of 2009, she happily
signed several bills that severely limited abortions, and in April of 2010, she
ecstatically signed the nation’s toughest immigration bill; but that is neither
here nor there. I could add that she was
not eager to protect the rights of women or Mexicans, (because let’s face it,
immigration bills regarding border patrols are not geared towards Canadians),
but I’m not going there either.
Let’s just stick to religious liberty. In Arizona, businesspeople with certain
religious beliefs want the government to allow them not to serve gays. This idea sounds so familiar……let’s see. When did something similar to this happen? It’s on the tip of my fingers, but I’m just
having a hard time remembering when business owners didn’t want to serve a
specific group of people. Oh boy. I hate when this happens. You know that you know it, and you know that
you should remember it, but it’s just not coming to you. Okay, lemme not think about it for a minute,
and hopefully it’ll come back to me.
I’m back……… Could it be the Jim Crow Laws that legally prohibited
Blacks from attending certain public schools, living in certain neighborhoods,
patronizing certain establishments, working in certain public administrations,
attending certain churches? Could it be
that? Yeah, that’s it!
You all know I love me some Martin Luther King, Jr. I respect the man for what he accomplished
for the Civil Rights Movement. I admire the
man for the personal sacrifices that he endured. And also, just look at those full, luscious
lips and dreamy, piercing eyes! What,
too soon? Oh, sorry, he’s not your type? Okay, if Al Sharpton tickles your fancy, then
be my guest. Whatever raises your skirt!
However, there was no way that I was going to a Woolworth lunch counter and pay hard earned money to EAT from those people --
people who hate me, people who don’t want me in their space. First off, those people probably couldn’t
cook as well as what I was used to.
Then, how do I know that they were not going to lace my food with some
bodily fluid, or worse …… solid? Ugghh! I couldn’t.
I’m glad that Civil Rights activists fought for Black people to attend better
schools, be served in any public establishment and whatnot, but I just couldn’t
see myself sitting down and having hateful people spit on me, put cigarette
ashes in my hair, curse me out and then bring me food from another room! So I get why bills like 1062 are being vetoed. Who wants to go back in time? But on the other hand, if you don’t want my
business, there is no way I’m going to go out of my way to give it to you. I am not paying you for any ‘secret’
ingredients in my food.
The first sentence in any Business book will tell you that
businesses exist to make money. There is
no other reason. And there really
shouldn’t be. Of course there are many
ways to maximize profit, and common sense has shown many business owners that
if they are morally and socially conscious, they can make more money. But business owners should not be concerned
about the private lives of their consumers.
It just seems so, what’s the word……un-American!
In addition, and I hate to stereotype, but a lot of gay people are
loaded. Many of them don’t have kids, so
they have more disposable income. They tend to like the finer things in life,
like most people, but unlike many of us, a lot of them can actually afford the
finer things. So if I had a business
that catered to the bride and groom, there is no way in hell I’d refuse to
serve gay people. These people, well
most of them, have bottomless purses.
Why wouldn’t I want to serve them?
I’m in business solely to make money.
Therefore, if I were in the wedding business, I would be the first in
line to support same-sex marriage. Think
about it. Cakes, flowers, invitations,
gowns, tuxedos -- the list goes on. Maximizing
my profit and increasing my clientele should be my main concern, not who my
clients are. And if I were a divorce
lawyer, I would be second in line because let’s face it, gay people are no
different from straight people in that regards…….eventually a huge percentage
of them will separate. Not being a pessimist,
just a realist.
But the point of my writing this post is to emphasize the slippery
slope that laws like this can create. Next
thing you know, these people are going to refuse service to people of other
religions because remember everybody else’s religion is fake, only yours is the
real deal. What’s next, people with
different political views, people who raise their children differently, people
who do not close the toilet seat. Okay,
that would just be me because again, it’s one of my biggest pet peeves. But where do we as a society draw the line?
I hope I’m not the one who is getting this wrong, but I thought
religious freedom meant that we are free to practice our religion openly
without any persecution from others. For
some reason, people now think that it is freedom to impose their religious
views on others. Like a while ago, I was
at the gym. Yeah I know……a rare moment
in history. In any event, there was a Hasidic
Jewish convention, and as I was on the treadmill walking (had to pace myself before
I started running), I watched Judge Mathis. I am a bit hard of hearing, so I admit that
the TV set was probably a tab bit loud.
At any rate, the attendant asked if I could turn the volume down since
some of the convention attendees were walking through the gym, just walking through,
not staying. The same convention
attendees who were outside on their cell phones. What
was it that couldn’t wait until this convention was over? So these people should not be subjected to Judge
Mathis, but the image of them in thick pantyhose, thick, long black
skirts and hair curled all over their faces should be etched in my memory
forever? Lady, please!
I don’t believe that people should have more money than they can spend
in their lifetime, however, right now, I wish I were a multi-billionaire. I would buy a remote island to live on because
perspectively speaking, it is against my religion to live amongst jackasses.
