Arizona’s Anti-Gay Bill Liv on Hobby Lobby | The New Yorker

Contents:

• HOW HOBBY LOBBY SPL THE LEFT AND SET BACK GAY RIGHTS
• DO THE HOBBY LOBBY DECISN THREATEN GAY RIGHTS?
• THE HOBBY LOBBY RULG IS SURPRISGLY GOOD FOR GAYS
• THE LEGACY OF THE HOBBY LOBBY CASE: PROTECTG ANTI-GAY DISCRIMATN?
• DO HOBBY LOBBY MEAN YOU N DISCRIMATE AGAST GAYS?
• HOBBY LOBBY PUTS OBAMA BETWEEN GOD AND GAYS
• ARIZONA’S ANTI-GAY BILL LIV ON HOBBY LOBBY

HOW HOBBY LOBBY SPL THE LEFT AND SET BACK GAY RIGHTS

But the major nflict that has epted the wake of that cisn has been between relig eedom and gay rights. The rultg ntroversy has spl gay-rights and fah groups on the left, wh wi-rangg polil fallout that some now fear uld hurt both chapter of the ntroversy is set to close on Monday, when Print Obama plans to sign a long-awaed executive orr banng feral ntractors om discrimatg agast gays and lbians, acrdg to a Whe Hoe official.

Many proment gay-rights groups have now whdrawn their support om a top legislative prry, the Employment Non-Discrimatn Act, over the relig exemptn ntas. “The relig exemptn bate has now been polarized to the pot where people are sayg, ‘All or nothg, ’” said Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, director of social policy for the center-left thk tank Third Way, whose rearch and activism on gay marriage have been stmental to that e’s mastream acceptance.

DO THE HOBBY LOBBY DECISN THREATEN GAY RIGHTS?

Some gay-rights and civil-liberti advot had lled on Obama to elimate that provisn.

But the new orr will not clu a broar relig exemptn that would allow nonprof ntractors to refe employment to gays if they viewed as nsistent wh their fah. (ENDA’s exemptn don’t apply to for-prof pani like Hobby Lobby, but would allow a Catholic school, for example, to fire a gay teacher or janor. ) Such an exemptn ma many gay-rights mpaigners nervo, but most accepted as a necsary polil promise to get the vot of morate Catholic Bishops reneged on the al, g out opposn to ENDA 2010 spe the exemptn.

Many of the Republins who voted for the bill, such as Utah Senator Orr Hatch, ced the exemptn as the reason they uld support the Republin-ntrolled Hoe clg to brg ENDA up for a vote, gay groups lled on Obama to take executive actn by applyg s provisns to feral ntractors. Gay-rights groups lobbied agast cludg an exemptn the executive orr.

THE HOBBY LOBBY RULG IS SURPRISGLY GOOD FOR GAYS

On July 8, the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn, Gay & Lbian Advot & Defenrs, Lambda Legal, the Natnal Center for Lbian Rights, and the Transgenr Law Center announced they would no longer support ENDA as long as clud the relig exemptn. The Gay & Lbian Task Force even lled on Obama to veto ENDA if reached his sk wh the exemptn language gay-rights voic urged utn. The Human Rights Campaign, the natn’s largt gay-rights anizatn, said still supported ENDA but would fight for a narrower relig exemptn the bill.

Third Way issued a memo tled “Don’t Abandon ENDA Over Its Relig Exemptn, ” notg that even wh the exemptn, the bill would reprent huge progrs and ensure protectn for the vast majory of currently vulnerable LGBT the past , a growg partnership between gay-rights groups and relig lears has been stmental to the advancement of gay rights, both terms of policy and social acceptance.

The partnership was mutually beneficial: Church’ image benefed om showg a more tolerant face to the world, while gay-rights mpaigners benefed om showg they weren’t opposed to fah. “I hope the larger progrsive muny is begng to unrstand that we need people of fah for all of our stggl, ” Alan van Capelle, who helped get gay-marriage passed New York as head of the Empire State Pri Agenda, told me last year. The executive-orr bate spl relig-left groups and gay groups alike to opposg mps.

THE LEGACY OF THE HOBBY LOBBY CASE: PROTECTG ANTI-GAY DISCRIMATN?

” Progrsiv like Wear and Wallis, who see themselv as eply, spirually mted to gay rights, surely would be dismayed at beg lled “right-wg nservativ. ” Such name-llg, advot fear, uld alienate alli that have been tremendoly important to the e of gay larger fear is that such spls uld brg back the bad old days when gay rights and relig rights were seen as irrencilable—and liberals suffered polilly for the image that they were alienated om relig valu. "Though most legal experts agree that race-based discrimatn is unlikely to return, the Hobby Lobby cisn is already havg an effect on the fight for gay rights the workplace.

Meanwhile, a number of gay rights groups have whdrawn support om the Employment Non-Discrimatn Act, a bill passed by the Senate but stalled the Hoe that would ban employment discrimatn agast lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) people. A se like that volv a form of speech, which a pany is paid to create somethg— this se, photographs of a gay weddg—that go agast s relig beliefs.

" Moreover, before Exxon acquired Mobil 1999, Mobile had "polici to protect discrimatn agast gay men and lbians, and even offered benefs to same-sex upl, " but Exxon took that all away, acrdg to LGBT news se the Dallas perhaps a new low for the pany, the Human Right Campaign gave the massive employer a sre of below zero on s 2012 Corporate Equaly Inx, which measur LGBT equaly and workplace protectns. Urban OutftersIn addn to perpetratg many a fashn fx pas, Urban Outfters has also earned a reputatn as beg a pany that is bad for women and members of the gay muny. The clothg cha's CEO is notorly anti-gay and don't seem to md the pany's severe unrreprentatn of women when to learship posns.

DO HOBBY LOBBY MEAN YOU N DISCRIMATE AGAST GAYS?

Cracker BarrelCracker Barrel has been tratg advot wh s overtly racist and anti-gay practic for years. Carl's burger cha — which has no problem sellg s food wh sex — was found by vehemently anti-choice, anti-gay csar Carl Karcher. Gay rights groups dubbed his hamburgers 'bigot burgers' after Karcher supported a 1978 proposn that would have allowed school boards to fire teachers who were gay or advoted homosexualy.

Levi'sThe jean manufacturer is a well-known supporter of marriage equaly, whose efforts rulted a 2010 GLAAD award for a pro-gay advertisement, and posive marks HRC's Buyer's Gui. But an attempt to narrow the lg’s effect, the nservative majory mak a surprisg ncsn—one that uld be good news for gay people.

HOBBY LOBBY PUTS OBAMA BETWEEN GOD AND GAYS

Lurkg the background of the ligatn was an open qutn about employers that might also ce their relig beliefs to discrimate agast gay people, even where the law forba . The qutn sudnly emerged as a dire threat as florists, bakers, and photographers have claimed a relig right to break state law to discrimate agast gay upl, and state after state proposed their own riffs on RFRA. The issue beme a mor e célèbre among nservative mentators, and, as the Hobby Lobby lg approached, gay rights advot braced for the apolypse.

ARIZONA’S ANTI-GAY BILL LIV ON HOBBY LOBBY

But Jtice Anthony Kennedy, a ncurrence, bs the urt’s lg even further, makg clear that the majory isn’t rewrg RFRA (or the First Amendment) to protect anti-gay discrimatn. Why do both jtic go out of their way to quell the fears of gay rights advot? Gsburg tak the subtext of the se—do relig liberty allow anti-gay discrimatn?

In dog so, the urt may have fortalled a new round of ligatn over gay rights vers relig liberty—or, at the very least, suggted that wouldn’t serly enterta eedom-to-discrimate claims.

But gay and civil rights groups have long warned that a cisn permtg such a relig exemptn uld have broad ramifitns, potentially allowg employers to discrimate agast gays. Workplace discrimatn has been a major issue for gay and civil rights advot for years.