it s this proposal that was specifically written to protect them from lawsuits. her office received this letter just today, signed by 80-plus arizona companies, all of them want her to veto this bill. 1062 expands state definitions of religious freedoms, allowing not just people, but businesses and allowing associations to deny services if providing them goes against their religious beliefs. now, critics, and there are a lot of them, say 1062 is a way to legally discriminate against gay people. and while debating that point, one will s supporter would not or could not explain how sb-1062 prevents discrimination. you have to hear this. this is state senator al melvin. he s actually a candidate for governor, talking to anderson cooper. roll it. and around your law, under this law, if i m a catholic loan officer, say, in a bank, and i don t like the idea of loaning money to a divorced woman, because jesus spoke against divorce very strongly, or i don t want to loan money to an
good morning. i m carol costello. thank you so much for joining me. in arizona, all eyes are on the governor and whether she will veto a bill that s become a lightning rod in the battle over gay rights. that would allow businesses to site religious beliefs and deny service to gay customers. in an exclusive interview with cnn, republican governor, jan brewer, says she will make the right decision for her state before the saturday deadline. i have a history of deliberating and having an open dialogue on bills that are controversial, to listen to both sides of those issues. they have to look at what it says and what the law says and take that information and do the right thing. one law maker in arizona says, the right thing is to sign that bill into law. al melvin is running to succeed jan brewer as governor.
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she considers herself someone who wants to protect and promote arizona s economic interest. she knows there will be massive economic retribution against her state if there s a law in the books that is seen as codifying discrimination. last year she vetoed a very similar bill. al melvin, he voted for the bill, he wants governor brewer to sign it. he s running for governor of the state. here s part one of the interview. senator, this law came about in reaction to cases in other states where people have been sued because they refused to contribute to a same sex wedsing. i know you say this is an attempt in arizona to protect people s religious beliefs. the places where it s occurred are states that have laws against discriminating against people based on sexual
maximum religious freedom, sir. you can t answer that question, then. i gave you the opportunity. that s my answer to you. i know you re trying to set me up and i m not going to stand for it, sir. for more reaction for what al melvin, the state senator, just said. i am joined by kate ellis, the ceo and president of glad. good morning. thanks for having me. i take it you are not so surprised about i that gentleman s comment. i do find it shocking that senator melvin would turn his back on the people in his state so blatantly. i think what he is trying to say is this is a bill that s about protecting religious freedom. it doesn t have anything to do much to do with gay rights for the state of arizona. that s what he was trying to say, i guess? well, i think even when anderson pushed him, senator