Much like Barry Goldwater couching his bigotry by stating that he was “unalterably opposed to discrimination of any sort,” yet standing in staunch opposition to the Civil Rights Act due to the wild concept that public accommodations should be accessible to all, regardless of color, creed, or national origin; Tom Emmer and John Kline are joining more than 140 of their Republican colleagues in trying to claw back some of the codified discrimination that was on the books before the Supreme Court ruled on Obergefell v. Hodges.

As has been pointed out by the ACLU, the “First Amendment already protects the rights of churches and clergy to decide which unions to solemnize within their faith traditions. Since the founding of our country, no church has been forced to marry any couple in violation of its religious doctrine and that will not change now that same-sex couples can marry.”

So, what exactly is the purpose of this legislation? Glad you asked. Denial of cakes, catering, and most importantly, state and federal benefits of all kinds. This legislation would allow an employee of any organization, public or private, to deny service at a whim and couch it in terms of religious belief.

A business could refuse to provide FMLA benefits to someone caring for their spouse, or a gay or lesbian veteran could be denied their veteran’s benefits based on the personal beliefs of whomever happens to be processing their claim.

Besides, when you can co-sponsor anything that the anti-LGBT hate group Family Resource Group calls “common sense”, you just have to show how out of touch you are with the majority of Minnesotans, who voted against codifying discrimination into the state constitution, don’t you?