Testimony: ‘It’s going to affect our churches, our businesses, our bathrooms’
More testimony from tonight’s hearing on HB 2, the non-discrimination bill regarding sexual orientation and gender identity:
Sisto Zavala, a pastor, told the committee, “It’s going to affect our churches, it’s going to affect our businesses, our bathrooms. It’s going to affect that.” He said, “I don’t want to … go to jail because I don’t want to marry someone that’s not male and female, because that’s what it’s going to,” and added, “Who’s going to want to start a business? That puts you in fear of not wanting to start a business. Because if I say no, I’m automatically going to get sued and I’m going to get shut down.”
Donna Young said, “Adding the words will do more harm than good. … It’s not good for anyone, not the state, not even the homosexual. … That lifestyle is an abomination. … When you legalize one perversion, more follow. An example is abortion. … When is it going to stop? It’s got to stop? … We all must repent. … We must love God and Jesus above anything.”
Kirsten Faith Richardson told the lawmakers, “There is a reason why God has told us we shouldn’t do certain things. We get a pretty immediate consequence for when we are sexually immoral. We have over 200 sexually transmitted diseases now. Now that’s a pretty scary number.”
So far this evening, in two hours, 15 people have testified, 10 against the bill and five in favor.