Posted by The state legislature of Arizona recently passed a law allowing that would allow business owners, as long as they assert their religious beliefs, to deny service to gay and lesbian customers. The (potential) law has come under intense criticism across the country. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is considering whether to veto the measure.
Some economic conservatives have even come out against the measure because they fear it will hurt business interests in the Copper State. Even if Brewer does veto the legislation, it doesn’t speak well for Arizona’s tolerance that such a measure would pass in the first place. The measure has been framed as a way to ensure religious freedom. Religious freedom… to discriminate. So much for love the sinner, hate the sin amongst Arizona’s religious and social conservatives.
But this is not the first time that Arizona has run into social/moral controversy.
MLK Day Superbowl Controversy
In 1987, Republican governor Evan Mecham rescinded his predecessor’s executive order to recognize the day. Mecham also made his displeasure for the holiday widely known, saying that King did not deserve a holiday and that black supporters of the law should have been more concerned about getting jobs. In 1989, the state legislature approved the holiday but that was put on hold due to popular opposition.
Shortly after the Superbowl was awarded to Arizona, a 1990 ballot initiative to observe the holiday was defeated by the people of Arizona. Eagles owner Norman Braman had warned that if the MLK Day ballot initiative went against adoption of the holiday, the NFL would not hesitate to pull the game from Arizona and move it somewhere else.
The NFL did indeed remove the Super Bowl from Tempe and held another vote, choosing Pasadena instead. It took another 2 years but Arizona voters finally approved the MLK Day holiday in the 1992 elections, in large part due to the revenue lost from not hosting the Superbowl. The NFL responded by awarding Superbowl XXX to Tempe at their 1993 meeting.
Arizona Immigration Reform Law
In 2010, Arizona passed what was the broadest and strictest immigration measure in years. It made the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Anyone.
The draconian measure, which has been touted as another tool in law enforcement’s belt, nonetheless opens the door to racial profiling, not only of Mexicans but anyone who might look suspicious and/or ‘brown’. You’ve heard of DWB (driving while black). Now you’ve got WWB (walking while brown).
Snake Oil College Sports
Exhibit A(sshole) – Todd Graham, now the head football coach at Arizona State University. Less than a year after being hired at Pitt, Graham jump shipped to ASU. He informed his Pitt players of the departure the following day by having a text message forwarded to the team by director of football operations Blair Philbrick. This after having referred to assistant coaches who left to join Rich Rodriguez’s staff at Arizona as “nothing but mercenaries.” ESPN writer Mark Schlabach labeled Graham the King of Liars.
Exhibit B(astich) Rich Rodriguez, the head football coach at the University of Arizona. In 2006, while at the helm of West Virginia University, Rodriguez openly courted the Alabama job while coaching his home state’s Mountaineers. The next year, after losing to Pitt, 13-9, and thus the opportunity to play for the National Championship, Rodriguez snuck out of Morgantown to man the helm at the University of Michigan. He didn’t even coach his players in the Sugar Bowl. Rodriguez never fit in Ann Arbor, eventually getting fired before resurfacing with the Wildcats. But as much as I might despise WVU, I still think that the stench of his departure from Morgantown has followed him all the way to the desert.
Get Yer Head Outta Yer Ass, Arizona
From the Superbowl-MLK controversy to Immigration ‘reform’, Todd Graham & Rich Rodriguez to Anti-Gay legislation to John McCain going off the rails, Arizona just can’t seem to get out of its way. I have a couple friends who live in the Grand Canyon State or went to school at the University of Arizona. The Arizonans I’ve met and known are nice people. And there’s no such a thing as a state without its idiocies. (PA says you’re welcome for Rick Santorum). But Arizona really needs to its head outta its arse here.
