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Saturday, February 14, 2015

Americans support marriage equality … as long as they can still discriminate against gays

A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that although more Americans support marriage equality (44 percent) than oppose it (39 percent), 57 percent also think it should be perfectly legal for people to refuse service to same-sex couples.
David Kenney, a self-employed Catholic from Novi, Michigan, said he's fine with same-sex marriage being legal. He's among the 57 percent of Americans who said wedding-related businesses - such as florists - should be allowed to refuse service if they have an objection rooted in their religion.
Well, there you have it. Another lesson in Religious Freedom = Discrimination. Just to be clear, in the vast majority of states and municipalities across the country it's still perfectly legal to refuse service to LGBT citizens. Although Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects people from being refused service on the basis of their race, color, religion, or national origin, no such federal protections exist for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender individuals.
But what the poll really indicates is that people are profoundly confused about the term "religious freedom." The First Amendment does not guarantee us the right to discriminate based on our religion, it instead guarantees us the right not to be discriminated against based on our religious beliefs.

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