Wilton Manors Mayor Pens Letter to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer Over Proposed Anti-Gay Law

Wilton Manors mayor Gary Resnick has never written to another state's chief executive, until now

Wilton Manors Mayor Gary Resnick has never written to another state's chief executive, until now.

Resnick recently wrote Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer a letter in which the mayor offers his opinion on the state's proposed anti-gay law.

"Arizona does not need to be the first state to adopt a bad policy that allows discrimination against the GLBT community, it is the wrong direction," Resnick said.


The proposed Arizona law would allow business owners, based on their religious beliefs, to refuse to serve gays and lesbians. At gay wedding ceremonies for instance, florists could refuse to decorate the party hall, bakers could deny cake orders.

Backers of the legislation say it protects the religious freedom of business owners who oppose gay marriage.

"We've seen countless examples of florists and bakers and photographers who have been sued and who have lost their cases where government has insisted they have to help celebrate the same sex wedding ceremony," said Ryan Anderson, with the Heritage Foundation.


Resnick calls the proposed law flat out discrimination.

"If a community is only going to become more and more divided because of silly laws that are passed by the legislature in the heat of the moment, it is not going to be good for anybody," he said.

"This bill has the potential to serve as dangerous precedent for the entire country," Resnick wrote in his letter. "Once you allow religious beliefs to justify refusing to engage in commerce with gays and lesbians, this opens up a huge can of worms."

Georgia, Tennessee, Kansas and South Dakota are all considering bills similar to Arizona's. Brewer has until Friday to act on the proposed law.

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