Rainbow bLAWg

In the past week, Republican lawmakers in Idaho and Kansas have tried to introduce bills that would have permitted jaw-dropping discrimination against LGBT people publicly and privately, under the guise of “religious freedom.”

They were expected to pass the GOP controlled chambers in both states easily, but were pulled at the last minute because of intense opposition.

The proposed laws would have allowed any private employer or business to deny services to someone if they suspect them of being gay. They would have applied to public workers, too, meaning that a police officer or ambulance driver could have refused to do their jobs as long as they said their refusal was premised on their religious beliefs. Landlords would be permitted to evict tenants due to their sexual orientation, and state agencies — like the unemployment office, for example — could withhold checks and benefits. Doctors could refuse to treat patients without losing their license. Any gay person who brought suit over acts of discrimination would be required to pay their opponents’ legal fees if they lost — as the law guaranteed they would lose.

Why the about face? More than 500 demonstrators filled all four floors of Idaho’s state Capitol to protest the bill. Recent polling shows Idahoans strongly oppose allowing people to be fired from their jobs or evicted from their homes for being gay. A statewide poll by Moore Information commissioned by the American Civil Liberties Union in December of 2011 found that 81 percent of Idahoans believe it should be illegal to fire someone because they’re gay. The Kansas measure was slammed in opinion columns across the country, while an editorial in a Russian paper used it as means to slam American criticism of Russia’s laws.

Republican Rep. Lynn Luker of Boise, the lawmaker who introduced the Idaho bill said is is unlikely that his measure will resurface this session, but he has said that his legislation was “misinterpreted” and he reserves the right to reintroduce it later.

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Carrie Stone