Civil Rights

Deadly Discrimination

Discrimination denies freedom. Early Sunday morning Omar Mateen killed 49 people at popular gay bar in Orlando. At least one official called it a “domestic terror incident.” It is a hate crime.

The killer’s father, Mir Seddique, said his son got “very angry” when he saw two men kissing. “This had nothing to do with religion,” according to the father. The father is wrong. This has plenty to do with religion and politics, especially when prominent religious leaders and politicians condemn homosexuality and say it is acceptable to discriminate against gays. In less extreme cases we get bakers refusing to wedding cakes for gay couples. In the most extreme cases, we get beatings and death.

Maybe disgruntled bakers would never kill anyone, but where would such people choose to stop? Would gay sex become illegal? Would courses in morality be required? Would beatings be allowed?

Regardless of how the intolerance manifests itself, it all grows from the same seed. Early Sunday morning we saw a tragic illustration why discrimination must cease and freedom must be protected!

 

Supreme Court – Inconsistant Decisions

Yesterday (4/22/2014), in the case on affirmative action, Schuette v. Coalition, the Supreme Court ruled that voters could outlaw the use of race in college admissions.

According to the SCOTUS blog writeup about the decision (emphasis mine):

Those two Justices [Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas], however, would have gone considerably further, and declared that no policy that takes race into account can be upheld if it is not a direct remedy for intentional racial discrimination — in other words, they would allow race-conscious programs of dealing with policies that have a more negative effect on minorities, even if that is not intended.

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