GOP’s “religious liberty” scam just died: Why Brewer’s veto is so momentous

Once upon a time, the right thought it could push its agenda behind claim of religious freedom. Those days are over

BRIAN BEUTLER

Back in 2012, a full two years before conservatives insisted that religious freedom entailed the right to discriminate against gay people or gay spouses in both private and public workplaces, Republicans in Washington trotted out the same religious liberty line for the arguably narrower purpose of defending religious employers who wanted to be exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate.

That effort ultimately ran aground, both because the issue became the domain of the courts, but also because it ended up inviting a bunch of retrograde public pronouncements from conservatives about birth control and reproductive rights that ultimately dwarfed whatever political advantage Republicans hoped to gain by positioning themselves as tribunes for the religiously devout.

But for that ancillary damage, conservatives of all stripes really did seem to think that they’d gotten the framing right, and could apply it generously to future culture war battles.

The events of the past week have been especially fascinating in light of that history. The effort to apply the same religious freedom argument to anti-gay measures in states across the country has encountered tremendous resistance, not just from liberals but from business leaders, state-wide Republican elected officials, and GOP celebrities who, for different reasons, seem to get that stomping away from a growing majority of the population with a middle finger hoisted overhead isn’t a smart thing to do.

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http://www.salon.com/2014/02/27/gops_religious_liberty_scam_just_died_why_brewers_veto_is_so_momentous/