Religious Freedom Statutes

This week Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) vetoed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Arizona legislature.  Dubbed a "religious freedom" statute, the law would have exempted both individuals and companies from legal penalties if they violated the civil rights of customers, patients, etc. because of the perpetrator's sincerely held religious beliefs.  The backlash from major employers, citizens, and potential tourist events to Arizona led to various initial supporters and even the state's two Republican US Senators to oppose the bill.

Similar bills are not new.  A study by Wayne State law professor Christopher Lund identifies 16 states that added such laws between 1993 and 2009:

Interestingly, it appears Arizona has a law very similar to the one Gov. Brewer vetoed already on the books. Lund's article finds very few cases have arisen involving these laws.  Most also do not appear to have successfully exempted the defendant from legal consequences.

The recent rise of conservatives filing bills around religious freedoms comes largely as a backlash to the rapid expansion of same-sex marriage legalization.  Here is a brief primer on the issue:

First, dear readers, you must understand that existing civil rights on the national Federal level cover very specific classes of people (race, religion, ethnicity, disability, etc.)  Age is covered but only for people 40 and above.  In turn, not all classes of people are covered equally in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations.  For instance, sex discrimination is illegal in employment and housing.  Sex discrimination is also illegal in terms of some public accommodations (hotels, etc.) but generally not restaurants and many other venues.  So, you can offer special Ladies Night deals not offered equally to men, have gay male leather bars that exclude women, women-only music festivals, and women-only gyms.  Similarly, discrimination because of one's familial status is illegal in housing but not employment or public accommodations.

And when it comes to sexual orientation, there simply is no existing Federal law banning discrimination based on a person's homosexual, bisexual, or heterosexual orientation.  For years supporters have been trying to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to ban such discrimination nationally.

21 states and DC, however, have state laws banning sexual orientation discrimination.  11 other states ban sexual orientation discrimination involving public (state) employees.  Additionally, scores of cities, universities, and businesses have ordinances and policies banning sexual orientation bias.

So, now we have a number of states legalizing same-sex marriages.  In fact, all of the states where same-sex marriages are currently performed have civil rights statutes banning sexual orientation.  In New Mexico, a gay couple planned their wedding and contacted a public photography business to photograph their ceremony.  The business' owner, a devout conservative Christian, refused claiming performing this service for this couple would violate his religious beliefs.  The couple filed a civil rights complaint against the business and ultimately won.  Conservatives howled this application of existing civil rights laws against this business violated the owner's personal religion.

In Oregon, there was a similar case involving a lesbian couple planning a ceremony to bless their union. Again, a public business -in this case a bakery- refused to serve them.  The couple again filed a complaint against Sweet Cakes by Melissa.  Writers for the Portland Willamette Weekly wrote an interesting article exploring just how devout the Christian owners of this business were.  They write that the bakery was willing to make cakes celebrating a divorce party, a pagan solstice party, an out-of-wedlock baby shower, a non-kosher BBQ, and a party celebrating a researcher who had just received a grant to clone human cells.

This selective application of 'sincerely held religious beliefs' is also what led to a Lexington, KY, t-shirt printing company's loss over a complaint filed when it refused to print an innocuous Pride festival t-shirt but showed a history of printing a variety of sexually suggestive and crude t-shirts for other customers.

Yet, -and this point is key- the Oregon and New Mexico couples and the Kentucky gay organization would have been out-of-luck legally if they had lived in other jurisdictions.  Kentucky for instance has no civil rights law banning sexual orientation.  GLSO, the gay organization, and the offending printer both happened to be in Lexington, a city that passed a non-discrimination ordinance covering sexual orientation in 1999.

So, a gay couple that marries in Iowa and then goes home to rural Kansas and is refused a wedding cake by a local bakery has no civil rights protection and no way to legally fight the refusal.  So on the legal front, it is not marriage that is the driving force behind the civil rights cases but the enforcement of existing civil rights laws.  On the political front, however, religious freedom bills appear to be more about making a political statement against gay people and same-sex marriage.

UPDATE: Marriage Map

This week there have been a number of changes affecting civil marriage laws in the United States.  So, it is time for another map update:

a. Yet another Federal judge -the 6th I think- has ruled that a state's ban on offering civil marriage and its benefits and responsibilities to same-sex couples violates the US Constitution.  This week a judge in Texas ruled that the Texas ban was unconstitutional.  The ruling has a stay on it while the case can be appealed by the state government.

b. In Kentucky another Federal judge today lifted his stay on an earlier ruling that the Bluegrass State must recognize marriages legally performed in other states.  The state's Democratic Attorney General has asked for a 90 day stay so that the state can decide to either appeal or prepare.  For KY's couples married out of state, confusion abounds about how to complete their taxes.  Currently they can file jointly their Federal returns as married but must submit state returns separately as single.  No word yet on how today's decision will affect tax filings.

c. The increasingly legal complexities are making my little map also more complex.  I've now added Ohio to the states recognizing out-of-state marriages because the Federal court ruling there orders the state to recognize such marriages on death certificates.  This ruling, however, if on appeal too.

The Typical American, Housing Values

Earlier this week I posted about the typical American home based on data from the American Community Survey (ACS).  The ACS provides some other interesting data on Americans and housing:

• Jennifer, our typical American, moved into her house between 2000 and 2009 (51.7%).
• She owns her home (65.5%) but is still paying off the mortgage (67.1%). 
• The house is currently valued at a median value of $181,400.  Jennifer and her husband’s monthly mortgage payment is a median of $1,559. 
• If they decided to rent somewhere else instead, they would pay a median rent of $889.

The Typical American, Home Sweet Home

The Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) collects data on American residents’ housing.  While the US Census and ACS collect data on people by household, the housing data are collected based on housing units (houses, duplexes, apartments, etc.).  Based on these data, Jennifer, our typical American, lives:

• In a single family, detached house (61.7% of housing units are single family, detached housing units)
• Built between 1970 and 1979 (16.1%)
• With 5 rooms total (20.4%)
• Including 3 bedrooms (39.8%), a complete kitchen (99.1%), complete plumbing (99.5%), and telephone service (97.5%).
• The house is heated by gas from a utility company (49.4%).

How typical is your home?

The Typical American, Born in the USA?

According to data from the 2012 American Community Survey, 1 in 7 American residents were born outside the United States.  About half of the foreign-born residents are now US citizens.  With the focus of "birther" conspiracists who argue that President Obama was born outside the US, there has been more attention given to the Constitution's requirement that only a natural born citizen can be President.  There are some interesting political factoids around this issue and recent US presidential elections:

• In 2012, the fathers of both the Democratic (Obama) and Republican (Romney) candidates were born outside the United States.  President Obama's father was born in Kenya.  Gov. Romney's father was born in Mexico.  
• In the 2008 presidential election, the Republican candidate, John McCain, was born outside the US. He was born in Panama in what was then the US Panama Canal Zone to American parents.  His grandfather and father at the time were commanders of the Coco Solo submarine base and a submarine based there.
• At one time there was discussion about amending the US Constitution to allow any citizen to run for President.  This discussion arose around the possibility of Austrian-born former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger running for President.

So exactly how does one become a natural born citizen?  The Constitution does not define this term but according to Wikipedia, a 2011 Congressional Research Service report laid out the argument that this term applied to anyone who met the requirements for citizenship at birth.  Thus, that would include anyone born in the United States regardless of whether one, two, or none of the baby's parents are US citizens.  US Senator Ted Cruz for example was until recently both an American and Canadian citizen because he was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father.  He has since renounced his Canadian citizenship. While his father was not a US citizen until 2005, I do not know if his Cuban-born father was a Cuban or Canadian by citizenship at the time of his birth.  Cruz could possibly file to have Cuba recognize him as a citizen too!

The second way one becomes a natural born citizen is by being born to an American citizen who is abroad.  George Romney (former governor of Michigan and Mitt Romney's father), John McCain, and Ted Cruz all fit this category.  Oddly, even if Barack Obama was born in Kenya -as some birthers claim- to his Kansas-born American mother, he would still be a natural born citizen.  These birthers obsess about where he was born but none appear to refute that his mother was an American citizen.

The US is a nation born of immigrants stretching back 10,000s of years to when the first humans arrived.  That process is not complete:  today millions of Americans are newcomers to this country.

The Typical American, Moving

Have you moved in the past year?  If so, you do not match the profile of Jennifer, our Typical American. Still, many Americans move each year.  One in 7 Americans moved in 2012 according to data from the 2012 American Community Survey.

Be sure to check out this earlier post about Chris Walker's visualization of interstate migration.

The Typical American, Veterans

Has Jennifer, our Typical American, ever served in the military?  According to data from the 2012 American Community Survey, the answer is no.  Among Americans 18 years and older, fewer than 1 in 10 are veterans.

UPDATE: Civil Marriage Laws Map

The new lawsuits and court rulings are making this map increasingly complex.  I've added a new category for states such as Oregon and Kentucky that currently do not allow same-sex marriages but which recognize them -or may.  At the time of this update there still is not official word from KY state government regarding how they will enact or respond to this week's ruling.

The Typical American, Disability

According to data from the 2012 American Community Survey, 12% of Americans report they are disabled.

UPDATE: Same-sex Marriage Map Changes Daily

My map showing civil marriage laws in the US is literally changing daily!  Yet another Federal judge's ruling in Virginia adds to a growing number of rulings overturning state bans on same-sex marriage.  In today's ruling the decision is stayed while the appeals process continues.

Also today Alabama joined the states where lawsuits seek to open civil marriage to same-sex couples.

A Patchwork of Marriage

UPDATED MAP: Kentucky!!!! and Same-Sex Marriage Lawsuits

The legal situation involving the push to legalize same-sex marriage in most of the states is rapidly changing. As of today new lawsuits in Wisconsin, Missouri, and Louisiana are expanding the states with legal challenges to same-sex marriage bans.  A previous lawsuit in Louisiana was dismissed in December over legal standing issues.

Also, a new lawsuit in Ohio does not seek the legalization of same-sex marriages at the state level there. Instead it seeks to have the names of both parents listed on birth certificates when an Ohio or out-of-state adopting couple are legally married elsewhere.  This Ohio case would expand on an earlier Federal judge's ruling that Ohio must list same-sex spouses legally married elsewhere on Ohio death certificates.  That case is being appealed.

And today a Federal judge in Texas is hearing a challenge to that state's same-sex marriage ban.  Nevada's Attorney General also announced she will not defend Nevada's same-sex marriage ban from a legal challenge there because of the ban's likely unconstitutionality.

UPDATE:  Even as I posted this map over lunch, a Federal judge in Louisville, KY, ruled that my home state of Kentucky must recognize same-sex couples legally married in other states.  This particular lawsuit did not address whether same-sex couples could marry in Kentucky.  So now Kentucky will either join Oregon in recognizing same-sex couples married elsewhere or join Utah and Oklahoma in appealing this ruling.

Gen X? Millennial?

I've heard the terms Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials for years but have not really understood them until I made this graphic for a class of mine.  There is no official definition of when one generation begins and ends, so the years for each generation can vary.

The typical American currently belongs to Generation X.

The Typical American and Her Wheels

What can the American Community Survey (ACS) tell us about the typical American?  Well, Americans use cars a lot:

• Jennifer, our typical American, and her husband have 2 or more vehicles (57.3%).
• Like 76.1% of workers 16 years and older, Jennifer drives to work alone.
• Her average commuting time to work is 25.4 minutes.

Of Marijuana and Money

Currently nineteen states and DC have legalized marijuana for medical uses.  Two more, Colorado and Washington, have gone a step farther and lifted the prohibition on recreational use of marijuana.  Several other states have had ballot measures to legalize marijuana either for medical uses or recreational uses.  The New Hampshire House this month voted to legalize recreational use there.

The legalization of cultivating and selling marijuana, however, creates a number of financial and regulatory issues:

First, Federal laws forbid banks from allowing accounts where marijuana proceeds -even legal ones- would be deposited.  Banks can face Federal racketeering charges.  As a result, pot farmers and dispensaries deal almost completely in cash.  Imagine paying your taxes -in cash.  Imagine paying your employees -in cash.  Imagine paying your vendors -all in cash.  No bank will give you a loan to start your business.  Where are you going to store the thousands of dollars your business brings in daily?  Imagine the security concerns.

From the perspective of the business owners, the ban on banking even legal marijuana money is a huge headache -and a dangerous one with so much cash floating around.

States like Colorado and Washington see big tax dollars in recreational marijuana sales, but the banking problems also make the industry ripe for tax evasion.

The US Justice Department is currently working on new regulations that would open the way for banks to treat marijuana businesses that same as other legal businesses -in those states where marijuana has been legalized.  Several members of Congress, however, have come out opposing the changes.  2014 will likely see a number of new issues and opportunities open for the marijuana industry.

What's Up with Booming North Dakota?

North Dakota is booming!  Yes, the same North Dakota of Fargo movie fame.  The same bitterly cold, flat, windy North Dakota we all know and...love?  North Dakota takes a lot of ribbing for its infamously cold winters, but now the state can also boast of having the lowest unemployment in the United States.  Why though are jobs so plentiful there?

North Dakota's situation involves two factors:  one a long-term demographic trend and the second the recent find of oil in the Bakken formation.

Like many rural areas, the Great Plains have been steadily losing people as many younger and working age people leave for jobs, potential mates, and other amenities in bigger cities.  The people who remain behind tend to mature into old age there.  Thus, this demographic phenomena is called aging in place.  Unlike popular retirement states such as Florida and Arizona, the Great Plains' seniors usually grew up and never left the rural communities that are their homes.  In much of rural North Dakota, unemployment is low in part because there are few working age North Dakotans to take jobs being vacated by retiring seniors.

The second factor that is making North Dakota boom and attract a sudden influx of working age people is the discovery and development of the Bakken oil field under western North Dakota.  In places like Williston, ND, jobs are plentiful and housing is hard to find.  Like earlier boomtowns, the discovery of oil has led to a sudden influx of workers and the infrastructure in these rural areas is trying to catch up to all the new residents.

Map: Where You Are Most Likely to Be Stuck in a Part-time Job

This map looks at the percentage of workers who want a full-time job but can only find part-time work.  In technical terms, this map shows the highest rates of underemployment in the United States.

The Western states of Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington have considerably higher underemployment.  North Dakota and South Dakota have low overall unemployment and relatively few part-time workers unable to find full-time work.

UPDATE: The Typical American, English Language

Last night's Super Bowl commercial by Coca Cola featured various Americans singing America the Beautiful in different languages.  Strangely to me this commercial has triggered a backlash by the more xenophobic elements in American society.  Here's the commercial on YouTube and some statistics on the 1 in 5 Americans whose first language is not English.  America, c'est belle, no?

This backlash reminds me of a story floating around the web about two people waiting in line at the supermarket.  One person, a woman, is talking to a family member on the phone.  When she hangs up, the man behind her tells her that this is America and that if she wants to speak 'Mexican' she needs to go back to Mexico.  She looks him in the eye and informs him she was speaking Navajo and that if he wants to speak English he can go back to England. ;)

From its earliest days, the US has been a melting pot of languages from around the world.  The Founding Fathers almost voted to make German the language of government back in the 1700s!  In the 13 British colonies which became the original states, English was the most widespread language.

According to data from the 2012 American Community Survey, English still dominates with 4 out of 5 Americans speaking only English at home.  Yet, a sizeable number of Americans -1 in 5- do speak other languages at home.

Case in point:  A few years ago I looked into having a survey of Kentucky high school children translated into other languages.  When I checked, I found out that Kentucky schools -yes, Kentucky, not the most diverse state by any means- taught children whose primary languages included over 70 different languages! While English is the most common language in Kentucky schools and Spanish is the second most common, I was surprised that the third most common was Bosnian.  Kentucky has a rather sizeable Bosnian immigrant population who came to the area as war refugees.