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Arizona Passes LGBT Discrimination Bill

Shilpa Nagesh |
February 21, 2014 | 1:56 p.m. PST

Executive Producer

(twitter.com/photomeisterAZR)
(twitter.com/photomeisterAZR)
On Thursday, the Arizona House of Representatives passed a controversial bill that will allow business owners the right to use their religious beliefs to deny service to gay and lesbian customers.

The bill has the support from the Center for Arizona Policy, a conservative group that opposes same-sex marriage and abortion.

"The Arizona bill has a very simple premise, that Americans should be free to live and work according to their religious faith. It's simply about protecting religious liberty and nothing else," said the center's president Cathi Herrod.

However, Democrats and other business owners are against the bill and are encouarging Gov. Jan Brewer to veto the bill. State senate Democratic minority leader Anna Tovar believes this will lead to more discrimination based on race, sex or religion.

"With the express consent of Republicans in this Legislature, many Arizonans will find themselves members of a separate and unequal class under this law because of their sexual orientation," she said.

 

Read more on the situation here

Reach Executive Producer Shilpa Nagesh hereFollow her on Twitter.



 

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