A proposed bill co-sponsored by nearly
half of Washington state's Senate GOP caucus aims to allow businesses
to discriminate against gays.
The measure, introduced by Republican
Senator Sharon Brown, seeks to allow businesses the right to deny
services or goods if doing so would conflict with their “sincerely
held religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs or matters of
conscience.”
In 2006, lawmakers added sexual
orientation and gender identity or expression to the state's
anti-discrimination statute.
Brown's proposal (Senate Bill 5927)
would not apply to the denial of services to individuals recognized
as a protected class under federal law, which include race, religion
or disability.
“There's a glaring lack of protection
for religion in state law,” Brown
told the AP.
Josh Friedes, a spokesman for Equal
Rights Washington, the state's largest LGBT rights advocate, called
the measure “discrimination, pure and simple.”
Joseph Backholm, executive director of
the Family Policy Institute of Washington, the group which
spearheaded last year's unsuccessful attempt to repeal the state's
gay marriage law, disagreed.
“The government is now saying if you
have a conviction about an issue that we happen to disagree with,
then you as a business owner are going to be fined or shut down
because of that,” Backholm said. “People should and do have the
right to their own convictions.”
The bill, which lawmakers are unlikely
to address in the current legislative session, comes several weeks
after Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the ACLU of
Washington filed lawsuits against Arlene's Flowers and Gifts claiming
that its owner Barronelle Stutzman had violated state law when she
refused to provide flowers for the wedding of a gay couple.
(Related: Washington
florist who refused to supply flowers for gay wedding faces 2 suits.)
The florist shop is located in Brown's
district.