Florida Representative Fighting to Protect Religious Liberty, Says: Business owners have constitutional right to refuse service

Dustin Siggins : Nov 10, 2015
LifeSiteNews.com

If signed into law by Florida Governor Rick Scott, Gonzalez's bill will allow adoption agencies liberty to decide who is best to adopt children, and businesses with five owners or fewer the liberty to decide with whom they wish to do business.

(Tallahassee, FL)—Florida Rep. Julio Gonzalez says that it's "a heavy lift," but he is going to fight to make sure religious liberty is protected in his state. (Photo via LifeSiteNews.com)

Speaking to LifeSiteNews by phone, Gonzalez said his bill is intended to "solve a problem."

"The problem, as I see it, [is] particularly in regards to imposing someone's will on somebody else—our society has become highly litigious," explained Gonzalez. "There are a bunch of other things, but the crux of the issue is that here in Florida, all of a sudden, the relationship between individuals with regards to marriage, and marital status, and types of marriage, has changed radically."

"It became obvious" when the implementation of marriage redefinition came to Florida "that this is a good time to discuss how far we want to allow our courts, and by extension our government, to intrude into our religious convictions and our religious liberties against our will."

"On the other hand, I don't want to give the individual the ability to rampantly discriminate against other groups," said Gonzalez, "and using the religious argument, in my opinion falsely, to bolster their position. So I think it's a very difficult question to answer."

Gonzalez said his bill addresses concerns similar to those in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that LGBT activists successfully fought in Indiana. However, "I remember reading the Indiana legislation, and I remember concluding that it was too broad, that it allowed for too much, in my opinion."

"I don't agree with a lot of the articles that have been written about my bill... when it is called 'excessively broad.' In my opinion, and in my best effort, I wanted to make it as narrowly focused on solving the issue without allowing an excess amount of opportunity for misuse."

If signed into law by Florida Governor Rick Scott, Gonzalez's bill will allow adoption agencies liberty to decide who is best to adopt children, and businesses with five owners or fewer the liberty to decide with whom they wish to do business.

Health care agencies would be allowed to...

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