The West Virginia Republican Party continued its ALEC agenda this week and passed the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” with a surprising vote of 72-26. Shrouded in religious terminology, HB 4012 gives license to businesses to refuse service based on sexual orientation. The bill removes all county and municipal protections for sexuality that have already passed around WV. It would be better described as the Religious Discrimination Act.
Delegate Mike Pushkin (D — Kanawha) took to the floor as the only legislator elected as a religious minority and had a powerful message for his colleagues.
My family left eastern Europe over a hundred years ago, fleeing real religious persecution. They came here and they chose to make West Virginia their home. In my lifetime, I cannot tell you what religious persecution is because I’m an American and we do not persecute people in America for their religious beliefs. We have the first amendment to the Constitution… and it works. We have even stronger protection in our own West Virginia Constitution… it works. I’m a member of a religious minority that has historically been persecuted in other countries. Not here…. This bill does not restore anything — we already have it.
After introducing his family background, Pushkin got to the heart of the issue.
So what is the real reason behind the bill now, what’s different now? Same-sex marriage is now legal in West Virginia. Whatever your opinion on that, you’re entitled to. But that is the law now. This is a push-back from people whose religious beliefs are not persecuted, but possibly inconvenienced. There is a difference between being persecuted or discriminated against and being inconvenienced…. Having to bake a cake when you are a professional baker, and having someone pay you to bake a cake is not discrimination. It could possibly be seen as an inconvenience. But you’re a baker. You’re getting paid to bake a cake… What I am trying to say is that baking a cake is not persecution. Getting baked in an oven is persecution.