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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Business and Faith Groups Unite to Oppose "Right to Discriminate" Laws

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Monday, February 23, 2015   

DENVER – A coalition of Colorado business owners, faith leaders and community groups is urging lawmakers to oppose legislation the coalition says will legalize discrimination in the state.

House Bills 1161 and 1171 would allow individuals and businesses to refuse to follow any law that goes against their religious views.

Rev. Brian Rossbert, a Lutheran pastor, says the result could mean pharmacists in rural areas could refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control pills, or a high school guidance counselor could refuse to help a gay teenager, citing a conflict with their religious beliefs.

"When we seek to discriminate against people based on our claim to religious freedom, I think we're making a mistake," says Rossbert. "We're probably not living into the values of our faith, and not living into the teachings that we claim to hold."

Supporters of the bills say the legislation is a necessary step to restrict a government entity from substantially burdening a person's exercise of religion.

Rossbert says the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution already protects freedom of religion.

Colorado business leaders who oppose the legislation say the bills are so broadly written that they could allow businesses to discriminate against customers for what some would see as trivial reasons, possibly leading to a wave of lawsuits at taxpayers' expense.

Rossbert maintains the legislation would be a backward move for Colorado.

"As a state, I think we've moved on from wanting to enshrine that sort of treatment of others in the laws we hold," he says.

Today's "snow day" for Colorado legislators means hearings for both bills before the State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee of the Colorado House of Representatives will be rescheduled.


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