Last month, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer vetoed a controversial bill that would have created a legal statute allowing business the ability to deny service to any person or persons in the LGBT community on religious grounds.
Before making it to her desk, the bill had passed through Arizona’s legislature with a 33 to 27 vote. After meeting loud opposition from both athletic and corporate organizations like the MLB, and Delta Air Lines, business leaders said that this legal statute would not only cause extensive damage to the state’s reputation, but also be catastrophic financially. During a press conference, the governor said that she did the right thing vetoing the bill, since it would legalize discrimination.
A Public Policy Polling poll found that only 22%, which is one in five Arizonans, actually supported the bill, while a whopping 66% were against it. The poll also found that opposition spread across party lines, as the Democratic, Republican, and Independent majorities were all against it. What’s more, 72% of Arizonans–nearly three out of four citizens–were for the governor’s veto.
What’s also intriguing about this political situation is that the majority of Arizonans say that they actually support same-sex marriage.
It seems like more and more headlines about controversial federal statutes and regulations are escaping the realm of legislative news and making it to national newspapers and news affiliates. While attorneys are well accustomed to doing legal research to discover the legislative intent behind these controversial laws, laypeople are not, which is partly why some of these recent legal statutes appear so controversial.
Despite this fact, it’s hard to argue that the Arizona religious legal statute doesn’t incite fervent reactions. What’s your take on this legal statute? For or against it? If you have any questions about the Arizona legal statute, feel free to ask in the comments. Links like this: www.legintent.com
