The first thing we need to ask ourselves is “Is discrimination OK?”. Should I, as a business person, be allowed to discriminate against black people or Muslim people or Cuban people?
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it clear that a business owner does not have the legal right to discriminate that way. If you want to be in business, today, you have to obey today’s laws.
In 1960, discrimination was legal. Discrimination was socially acceptable. Lester Maddox was elected governor of Georgia because of his bigotry. Google his name. As a twelve-year- old newspaper delivery boy in south Georgia, I did not understand why Rosby, my twelve- year- old black co- worker, could not go across the street from where we picked up our newspapers to the restaurant and drink a soda with the rest of us. He could not because the owner of that restaurant did not serve black people.
Do we want to go back to those days? Are we proud of that history? Is Greensboro, North Carolina proud to have the restaurant from the Woolworth’s Diner on display in the Smithsonian museum as a symbol of bigotry? Google that.
In North Carolina, our General assembly passed a law, House Bill 2, making sure that if Catlin Jenner comes to North Carolina, she will not go into the ladies’ rest room. She better go into the men’s room. This bill prohibit discrimination on many things. Sexual orientation is not on the list. Our governor says we don’t need laws to protect LBGT people.
Do you wonder why sexual orientation was not mentioned in the Civil Rights Act of 1964? I will tell you why. There were no gay people in America in 1964. It was illegal to be homosexual in 1964. The gay people were in the closet with the door locked from the inside. Have you seen the movie,”The Imitation Game”?
Let me answer my own question. Discrimination is NOT okay. Racial discrimination is not okay. Religious discrimination is not okay. National origin discrimination is not okay. LBGT discrimination is not okay. Just because our ancestors a few generations back thought it was okay, does not make it true.
If your religion teaches that discrimination is okay, you need a new religion. Jesus embraced the tax collectors (that is what they called gay people in his day) and prostitutes. He expects the same from you.
If you don’t have an LBGT person in your family, go look in the closet.
If you live and vote in North Carolina, please write a letter to your North Carolina representative. Do not make your grandchildren apologize for what we did not do that we should have. Write your representative and ask her who would be the best representative to lead the charge to get this “national embarrassment”, House Bill 2, repealed.
PayPal thinks it is not okay. I agree. If you agree, write your representative. If you don’t know who your representative is, here is how to find out. http://rondclimer.blogspot.com/2016/03/who-voted-north-carolina-house-bill-two.html