There are two bills being discussed at this very moment which could impact us gamers in a big way. These two bills not only go against basic rights that every U.S. citizen has, but encourages discrimination.
One of these bills is being drafted by a lobbyist in Washington D.C. The other bill needs only an approval signature from a state governor.
The first bill is what I will call the ‘NFL Gay Ban’
It is proposed by lobbyist Jack Burkman who feels that somehow having gay athletes, like the recently outed college draftee Michael Sam, is the reason the NFL is going downhill. He says,
“If the NFL has no morals and no values, then Congress must find values for it”
The second bill, which is even more pressing, is Arizona’s Senate Bill 1062
This bill, which has already passed through the Arizona legislature, will allow any business to deny service to gay men and women. The only thing the business needs to do, if action is brought up against it, is say that it is for “religious beliefs.” This bill is only one signature away from approval and it will be up to Gov. Jan Brewer to make the call.
So how does this affect gamers?
Both of these bills allow, no, encourage the discrimination of anyone who labels themselves as gay. If the NFL bill goes through, then it will set a dangerous precedent for other sports to do the same. We could see far-reaching consequences with athletes excluded from game releases like Madden NFL just for being gay.
However, it is the Arizona bill which could cause serious civil rights issues. If the bill passes, gamers in Arizona could see a denial of service at video game stores if they are gay. Then, if more governors follow the lead of Gov. Brewer, we could see other states adopting the same policy. Can you imagine not being able to buy Titanfall just because you are gay? And what about others who are part of the LGBT + group that don’t identify as gay, but have the connotation connected to them?
Let us hope that these two bills fail. If not, we could see a step back in the wrong direction.
