The Gay Thing: Jan Brewer Vetos Arizona "Religious Conscience" Law

When she began speaking, Jan Brewer made me a bit nervous. Whenever she speaks, I flash back to her infamous deer-in-the-headlights opening remarks at one of her gubernatorial debates. She's not a talented public speaker, but then again, neither am I. But she did come through on the right side of this one. So, Arizona's anti-gay "religious conscience" law is now vetoed.

Unfortunately, Arizona seems to be somewhere in the middle of the pack, when it comes to these far-right anti-gay laws in the states. They've been popping up like weeds as sort of a backlash to the break-neck speed with which the marriage equality movement is racking up victories. It's a badly thought out, obviously unconstitutional overreaction, and it's clearly coordinated. Luckily, it's failing. So far. Will Jan Brewer's legacy be that she effectively killed this line of attack? Or will the next try (Missouri, at last check) make it?


There has been some fun to be had along the way, oddly enough. First it was exciting that this dispute caught the news cycle, and just kept getting bigger. But it got comical when one by one, prominent Republicans (mostly after the NFL and Apple were urging a veto) jumped on the veto bandwagon. Brewer was left with a fairly easy choice, because everyone was on her side except the rabid, anti-gay contingent. And if you dip a toe into Right Wing World over at FreeRepublic.com, you'll see that they think they are the only ones marching on the right foot on this, and that the whole rest of the world is wrong.

[Excerpt]

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoes controversial anti-gay bill, SB 1062
 
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed a bill Wednesday that would have allowed businesses that asserted their religious beliefs the right to deny service to gay and lesbian customers. The controversial measure faced a surge of opposition in recent days from large corporations and athletic organizations, including Delta Air Lines, the Super Bowl host committee and Major League Baseball. . .

Read more at: CNN