Michele Bachmann: Arizona Governor was wrong to veto anti-gay bill
Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann has criticised Arizona’s Republican Governor Jan Brewer for vetoing a bill that would have legalised discrimination against gay people.
Governor Brewer announced that she would not be signing Senate Bill 1062 last month.
She won praise from senior Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, and even Arizona Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney, two Republicans known for normally supporting anti-equality measures.
But Michele Bachmann has attacked Governor Brewer’s decision.
“I believe that tolerance is a two-way street, and we need to respect everyone’s rights, including the rights of people who have sincerely held religious beliefs,” Bachmann told Yahoo’s ‘The Fine Print’.
“Religious liberties and the protection of our religious liberties is right,” she said. “Right now, there’s a terrible intolerance afoot in the United States, and it’s against people who hold sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Senate Bill 1062 would have prevented the State of Arizona from taking action against individuals and businesses who refuse services to people or groups based on their religious beliefs if such enforcement would “substantially burden” the free exercise of their religion.
The claims were centred on her husband’s medical practice.
