Leviticus Er-wrecked-us - Ain't That America?

Yesterday, I asked BabbaZee to put up a post here on a recent bill that was passed in Colorado which bans the printing and distribution, by private businesses, of a passage in Leviticus which is condemnatory of homosexuality. 

In Babba's words:

After 400 years of religious freedom for those who wanted to own and distribute Bibles on their own property in America, the Governor of Colorado has put an end to it. SB08-200, signed into law last week will prohibit the issuing, circulating, and distributing of Leviticus 20:13:

If  a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

While churches are exempted for now, Christian schools, Christian book stores, private business, etc. are not.

I asked Babba to add a comment of mine to the main body of the post. Here was my comment:

I asked Babba to repost this article because I believe this bill is a travesty, and is in violation of the Separation of Church and State. We here at Infidel Bloggers Alliance are supporters of gay rights, and accept gays as fellow Infidels (because, we are all co-targets of the Islamic Jihad). That being said, fuck every single seditionist asshole who voted for this bill, and fuck the Governor for signing it into law. I hope you choke to death on a copy of Constitution as you attempt to devour it.

Midnight Rider contributed some words of wisdom in the comments thread which I believe added some nuance (a word we usually don't exactly dig around here at IBA) to the discussion:

Let me state at the top I am against any legislation of morality, sexuality etc. The Constitution is clear when it separates Church and State. And my classic Libertarian leanings tell me you do what you want, I'll do what I want, as long as no one gets hurt it's all good. And the government has no business in it.

Now, reading the bill (and I don't think it is it's final draft as signed) I don't see the church and state issue here. In fact it states this shall not apply to churches, synagogues etc seemingly to avoid that very issue.

To me it reads more like an anti-discrimination bill. It prohibits anyone from saying we won't rent/serve gays, blacks, Catholics etc. nor can you, as an owner of a hotel, restaurant etc have printed material that says we won't serve gays, blacks, Catholics etc. nor say anything or print anything that demeans or otherwise makes them feel uncomfortable for being gays, blacks, Catholics etc. In that I would say it is Banning Hate Speech Lite, as Epa proposes. It's not prohibiting the printing of the Bible or Torah or Tanekh or passages from them. It is saying you can't print them then start shoving them in peoples faces saying "Look - the Bible says gay people like you are going to go to hell and I don't want you in here" IF THEY OWN A PUBLIC BUSINESS WITHIN THAT BUSINESS (which is a First Amendment Free Speech Issue).

For Heaven's sake if that's what it said then Border's, Barnes and Noble et. al. would have to close down their religion section.

Maybe I'm just dunderheaded today but I'm not reading it the same way Babba Zee is.

But let me state again I'm opposed to the bill or any such as a whole. Gov't has no business legislating morality and (using gays ONLY AS AN EXAMPLE) either protecting or prohibiting protection of gay rights.

I don't care if you're white black red yellow gay straight bi trans Jewish Catholic Hindu I really don't give a fuck it makes no difference to me you have the same rights I do as a person.

If more folks would just live and let live we wouldn't be having these discussions.

But the mean old world doesn't work that way.

... it flies in the face of the 1st amendment Free Speech.

(the bill) does not prohibit the printing of it (the verse from Leviticus). That would violate the church section and the free speech. It prohibits printing it and using it as a tool to discriminate. My understanding of that is you can say Hey, you might be interested in reading this. But can't say Hey, you might be interested in reading this because you're a fag and I don't want you in here. You can't print a sign no fags allowed, no niggers allowed etc. I don't see the church and state issue because it is not limiting it to speech tied to religion. It is saying any speech. I may just not like gays because they're gay, not because I find it morally reprehensible.

Now, that said, again I would oppose this anyway. But if you want to ban hate speech, as Epa suggests, then how do you go about it and not trample on the First Amendment one way or another and how can you be opposed to something like this? 

I sent Midnight Rider's comment over to Babba yesterday. I told her that it seemed to me that her reading of the law might be a little off. 

Her response was, 

"It is what it is..." 

which in Babba-speak means she's absolutely-fucking-right about everything in the world. 

 I love Babba, but she's one of the most dogmatic fucks that God has ever graced the planet with. And, coming from me, I think that's saying quite a bit. 

But anyway, this issue is a kind of toss-up to me, and I'll tell you why. I have nothing against gay people. What are you kidding? I'm practically gay myself. I've spent my entire life in entertainment and media, and a lot of my friends of gay, and I love poetry, and I garden, and I love pretty scents, and all kinds of girlie crap.  

I believe the whole gay thing is a continuum, and if I'm right about that, then I'm just barely on the hetero side of the homo/hetero continuum. I'm not saying I'm bi, but I am saying that I was born with a larger feminine side than most men (large male apparatus notwithstanding).  

BUT, 

I also love watching mixed-martial arts. I love watching boxing. I love watching one man punch another man in the head until he loses consciousness. 

I love War movies, gangster movies, Grand Theft Auto, and all manner of violence and mayhem. 

The Lakers are the thing that keeps me going when I'm depressed. I'm a baseball statistic nerd. I collect Lord of the Rings action figures, etc. etc. 

And sad to say, but true, I have a visceral hatred of fairy-type behavior, and when I see it, I am repulsed, and sometimes want to just kick the guys ass for being such a "fag". I think this is instinct at work. 

But, the point is, God gave us Law. He gave us The Word. We are to rise above our animal natures/instincts by living by the Word which becomes alive in us when we have a relationship with Him. 

I do not believe it is Godly to kick the crap out of a fairy-type guy for being less than manly. And, I do not think it is Godly to discriminate against gay people for being gay. 

By the way, I think it is clear I believe gay people are BORN THAT WAY. I've seen too much of it to think differently. Guys who were just total fairies from the very beginning of their lives. Playing tiddly-winks and four-square with the girls, instead of football with the boys. I knew one kid whose was a fairy, and his brother was one of the toughest kids in school. They were one year apart.  

There's just no other explanation for it than that they are just born that way. 

So, if they are born that way, then why should we discriminate against them? 

All this being said, say you're a guy who owns a little hotel, in a little town, and you run it with your family. Maybe you are a Bible-thumping Christian, and you don't want your children to be exposed to two men carrying on their gay life at your little hotel. 

Ain't that America? 

I mean, that's why we invented America, so all of us freaks can live our lives the way we fucking want to live them, without government interferenece. 

So, what's the answer here?