The Daily Show takes a look at our "meth labs of Democracy" and these so-called "religious freedom" laws which, as host Jon Stewart noted, are designed to protect the "real victims of discrimination" -- Christian florists.
First up was Georgia, which they discussed at Kos here: Georgia's horrific religious 'freedom' bill and why it should worry everyone, not just gays:
Add Georgia—with Republicans in control of both legislative chambers and the executive—to the list of GOP-led states trying to pass a bill that will expand religious "freedom" at the expense of just about every marginalized group in the country.
These bills, typically called Religious Freedom Restoration Acts (RFRAs), have flourished recently as a backlash to the success of the marriage equality movement. But the Georgia bill's breathtaking breadth shows why this expansion of religious "freedom"—very much playing off the Supreme Court's ruling in Hobby Lobby last year—will turn into a license to discriminate against anyone (not just LGBT Americans) on the basis of one's religious beliefs. [...]
Everyone should be paying attention to these religious "freedom" laws. As LGBT activists have noted, they amount to nothing more than a "license to discriminate." Though some are specific to LGBT Americans, many are not. And most importantly, right-wing conservatives are seeking to expand the definition of what qualifies as a "religious liberty" and is also legally defensible as an act of religious liberty. These laws will have consequences for virtually every marginalized group in the nation.
Not to be outdone, next up was Arkansas and the Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act, which the Washington Post described here: Arkansas wants to attract businesses by allowing them to discriminate against gay people.
STEWART: I think I know how that happened. Hey, you think people are going to have a problem with this new it's okay to discriminate against gross gay people act? Oh why risk it? Let's look up a name in our Big Book of Bullshit Names You Can Call Laws. Here's one, The Patriots for Godly Freedom Act. Well, we used that to pollute rivers. Alright, let's go with the Intrastate Commerce Improvement Act... (bullshit).
Arkansas managed to pass a law so bad that even Walmart doesn't like it.
Then there's Oklahoma: Oklahoma House Passes Bill Restricting Marriage To People Of Faith.
STEWART: So Oklahoma wants to replace a civil institution with a religious one, which, maybe I'm wrong here is, Sharia law. [...] Oklahoma, if you're trying to send a message, wouldn't it be easier to just change your state's name? There you go.
Of course not to be outdone, last but not least we had Texas, who just celebrated the ten year anniversary of their same-sex marriage ban with some tasty "hate-cake" and whose homophobic State Rep. Tony Tinderholt who blocked a gay couple from getting married when the man has five marriages of his own under his belt.
And as Stewart noted, the attack on gay marriage wasn't the only crazy thing to come out of the Texas state legislature these days. Texas Rep. Debbie Riddle is terribly wants to make sure transgendered people aren't allowed to use the ladies' room: Texas Bill Would Jail Those Whose Chromosomes Don't Match the Restroom They're Using.
STEWART: Texas lawmaker Debbie Riddle, so riddle me this. You want people educated with Texas biology textbooks to correctly identify their chromosome match?
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