It is amazing how the most Right Wing religious groups argue for “religious freedom”, as if there is any denial of the rights of people to have their own religious beliefs!
For a nation where the vast majority are Christian of one sect or another, it is preposterous to argue there is an attack on religious freedom, when, if anything, it is Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and agnostics who are endangered in their right to religious freedom.
But devout right wingers in Tennessee have now managed to push through the state legislature a bill to allow bullying of gay boys and girls, a particular growing problem all over America, in schools, and that those who bully them cannot be prosecuted due to “religious” freedom!
The number of suicides of young gay boys and girls, and barely legal adult men and women, has grown by leaps and bounds, and it is essential to fight such bullying as a crime that is prosecutable!
No one should be allowed to use the veil of “religious freedom” to discriminate against anyone at any age, based on sexual orientation.
Hopefully, the law, if signed by the governor, Bill Haslam, will be appealed and lead to revocation of a hideous law! Even if Haslam vetoes, however, the bill is likely to become law with a Tennessee Senate vote of 32-0 and a House vote of 90-2!
It makes one wonder what has happened in Tennessee, a Southern state rapidly deteriorating into being similar to Mississippi, which has also passed an anti gay discrimination bill based on “religious freedom, and Governor Phil Bryant has signed it.
Federal challenge of these laws must move ahead expeditiously!