Republican Steve King of Iowa, who is no slack in the nut job department, is warning businesses that gay people might try to trick them into refusing service just so they can be sued.
Okay, I know that’s kinda hard to think about without getting a headache. So, here’s the downtown lowdown on his thinking.
The congressman went on to imply that LGBT people are making their identities known in order to entrap business owners into discriminating against them.“The one thing that I reference when I say ‘self-professed,’” he said, “is how do you know who to discriminate against? They 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 they’d like to have?”
The idea is that gay people will walk into a flower shop and announce, “I’m gay and I want a dozen roses.” Or maybe, “I’d like to be seated in the gay section of this restaurant, please.” Or, “Hi, I’m gay. Cry me a river.” And then if they don’t do it, the gays will sue them.
King explains why he believes that being gay does does not qualify anyone for equal rights.
“If it’s not specifically protected in the Constitution,” he said of civil rights protections, “then it’s got to be an immutable characteristic, that being a characteristic that can be independently verified and cannot be willfully changed.”
You know what I think? I think King desperately and fabulously wants to be the independent verifier of gay.That’s what I think.
