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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRep. Steve King: ‘Self-professed’ gays could entrap businesses by pretending
By David Edwards
Monday, March 3, 2014 13:58 EST
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) on Sunday said that he opposed protecting LGBT people in hate crimes legislation because their attributes were not immutable, and so they couldnt prove their sexual orientation.
During an interview with WHO-TV, King expressed regret that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) had vetoed a bill that would have allowed business owners to use their religion as reason to discriminate against LGBT people.
Youre an individual entrepreneur with God-given rights that our founders defined in the Declaration of Independence, he explained. You should be able to make your own decisions with what you do in that private business.
King acknowledged that the public accommodation section of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protected individuals based on race, religion and other characteristics.
And theres nothing mentioned in there on self-professed behavior, he said, referring to homosexuality. And thats what theyre trying to perfect, is special rights for self-professed behavior. And I think its difficult for us to define a law that would protect self-professed behavior.
But when asked if his use of the term self-professed behavior meant that being LGBT was a choice, King said that he wasnt sure.
I think it exists across the continuum in some type of a curve, and I dont know what that curve actually looks like, the Iowa Republican opined. I think somes nature and somes nurture. Some might be purely each. But I think a lot of it is a combination of nature and nurture.
And the one thing I referenced when I say self-professed, how do you know who to discriminate against? he continued. They about have to tell you. And are they then setting up a case, is this about bringing a grievance or is it actually about a service that theyd like to have?
And doesnt free enterprise provide that service if the demand is there? Someone can open up a cake shop, cant they?
In the end, King argued that LGBT people didnt deserve equal protection because their sexual orientation could not be independently verified and can be willfully changed.
And when we get into area of hate crimes legislation, Ive opposed that because youre punishing people for what you think went on in their head at the time they perpetuated a crime, he said. And its a murky area of the law. Weve not gone that way until the modern era, and I think it gets very messy.
Watch the video below from WHO-TV:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/03/rep-steve-king-self-professed-gays-could-entrap-businesses-by-pretending/
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Full article posted with permission
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Mz Pip
(27,430 posts)Are all the haters really Christian? They should prove it before they deny service.
Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)with a brain as smart as a cantaloupe.
butterfly77
(17,609 posts)Crazy at noon, Crazy 24/7 this is one nutty bastard!
Bandit
(21,475 posts)Who is to say? and it isn't just about Gays. It is about ANTONE the Haters want to discriminate against. You are Pro Choice, then expect to be discriminated against. I am sure there are tons of other examples as well.
qazplm
(3,626 posts)but on the "inside their head" crap...how does he think specific intent crimes get prosecuted? By definition you have "punish people for what you think went on in their head at the time they perpetuated the crime."
nyquil_man
(1,443 posts)cyberswede
(26,117 posts)Just what part of being gay comes from "nurture," exactly?
jsr
(7,712 posts)LumosMaxima
(585 posts)And the one thing I referenced when I say self-professed, how do you know who to discriminate against?
Seems to me it would be a lot simpler to just, you know, NOT DISCRIMINATE. Then you don't have to worry about vexing questions like that.
Jefferson23
(30,099 posts)"The radical Islamists, the al Qaeda ... would be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11 because they would declare victory in this war on terror," King said in an interview Friday with the Daily Reporter in Spencer.
He is a hateful man.
IllinoisBirdWatcher
(2,315 posts)"...how do you know who to discriminate against?"
If those fake christians like Steve King would only be required to wear yellow stars on their clothing, then everyone would know to drool over them or discriminate against them.
It would be so easy. Maybe he could pass a law.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)a "self-professed" gay. It doesn't cost many people their families, it doesn't rob them of a great education because they get the crap beaten out of them at schools for being different, and it doesn't rob them of the ability to attend church. There are no social disadvantages to being gay - no, we run everything.