Kansas now allows religious discrimination of gays

This is a letter written by a good friend of mine to the editor of her local newspaper:

-------------

The Kansas House just passed a bill that allows religious people to discriminate against homosexuals. That’s right!  It is now absolutely legal for one group of individuals to exert “legal” power over another group of individuals and deny them access to shelter, employment, health care, and other basic necessities.

When State Rep. Lance Kinzer, R-Olathe, was asked by House Minority Leader Paul Davis, D-Lawrence, if -- under Kinzer’s bill -- an apartment owner could cite his religious beliefs to fight a complaint if he refused to rent to a same-sex couple, Kinzer replied, “That is generally correct.”  Kinzer defends his bill as a means to prevent government from infringing on individual religious beliefs, stating that: “Free exercise of religion is at the core of who we are as a people.” 

Mr. Kinzer:  please define “we” and “people”; and while you’re at it, let us know which “religion” we are free to exercise as an expression of our (supposedly) shared “core”.

There are many in America who fear the growth of the Muslim faith in the U.S., and the possible rise of “Sharia Law”. According to Sharia Law, it is a father’s moral duty to kill a disobedient daughter, or to execute a homosexual son.  Several Sharia-based executions have occurred on American soil, and the fathers and sons involved in these murders have been arrested.  But wait!  Is this not their “free exercise of religion”, which is the “core” of who “we” are as a people?  What?  We do not ALL share the same religion and the same core?

NO, WE DO NOT.  But as Americans, we (as a people, as voters, as a society) have established a precedent that “we” as “people” deserve equal representation in our government, and equal treatment. That is why we, the people, have established laws that prevent bigots and religious fanatics (whether Christian, Muslim, or other faiths), from trampling the rights of our diverse citizenry.  If we did not have these laws, then people who are handicapped, or who are a specific race (Irish, Mexican, Black, Chinese, Middle Eastern – whatever is the prejudice du jour!), or religion (Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, etc.), or perceived sexual orientation can be denied access to housing, to restaurants, to social and medical services, and to jobs because of a specific individual’s arbitrary “expression of religion.”

I’ve heard elderly people state that “God didn’t intend the races to mix.” Okay, Mr. Kinzer, let’s bring back segregation!  The government has no right to infringe on these individuals' expression of religious belief. Also, there are Christians who believe that mentally and physically disabled people are blighted by God because of some transgression within their families (sins of the fathers, and all that).  Better get some funding, Mr. Kinzer, and reopen all those institutions closed in the 1970s where we used to warehouse all those imperfect people whom God wanted punished!

It is my BELIEF that every reasonable and coherent person living in Kansas should be ashamed that this law was allowed to pass. When will we get over such hatred and ugliness?