04-03-2015, 01:18 PM
^ That was a good entertaining video which actually sums up the issues well. 
It's already legal for private businesses (be they owned by Muslims, Christians, Jews, Satanists...)to refuse to engage in gay-specific services UNLESS there's a state or county or city specific gay anti-discriminatory law in place.
So, the state RFRA isn't restoring any religious freedom in that regard because that freedom was never taken away by the federal RFRA and gays aren't covered by civil rights protections anyway. (I think that's one reason some states want to get RFRAs in place -- they fear the fed civil rights guarantees are going to be expanded to specifically cover gays.)
And, as Adub alluded upthread, although they might be considered public rather than private institutions by some, churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, etc...are free to discriminate against gays all day and all of the night. They are not classified as individuals or business entities, no matter how many millions of dollars they collect in those "not-for-profit religious institutions". So, they don't have to accept gay members or perform gay ceremonies AND they're also tax-exempt (the latter being a very sweet deal for them; just keep re-investing in the growing religious enterprise and no money is owed to the government).
It's already legal for private businesses (be they owned by Muslims, Christians, Jews, Satanists...)to refuse to engage in gay-specific services UNLESS there's a state or county or city specific gay anti-discriminatory law in place.
So, the state RFRA isn't restoring any religious freedom in that regard because that freedom was never taken away by the federal RFRA and gays aren't covered by civil rights protections anyway. (I think that's one reason some states want to get RFRAs in place -- they fear the fed civil rights guarantees are going to be expanded to specifically cover gays.)
And, as Adub alluded upthread, although they might be considered public rather than private institutions by some, churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, etc...are free to discriminate against gays all day and all of the night. They are not classified as individuals or business entities, no matter how many millions of dollars they collect in those "not-for-profit religious institutions". So, they don't have to accept gay members or perform gay ceremonies AND they're also tax-exempt (the latter being a very sweet deal for them; just keep re-investing in the growing religious enterprise and no money is owed to the government).