Kansas City could lose more than $5 billion in future convention business if the state passes a law that limits protections of LGBT people, officials reported yesterday.
Ronnie Burt, president and CEO of VisitKC reported that to the mayor and city manager.
Many businesses and groups have said they will never hold another convention in Kansas City if the state law passes, he said.
Some businesses are also pulling out of the other states that have passed such laws.
James noted today that PayPal just withdrew plans for a Charlotte center and 400 jobs because of the new law in North Carolina.
That should be a message to Missouri legislators who are debating whether to put such a law to a state vote this year, James said. “They don’t seem to get it.”
The law would amend the state constitution to forbid punishing people or businesses that for religious reasons refuse to provide goods or services for same-sex marriages or celebrations.
Opponents say the law would legalize discrimination against LGBT people and could be used to deny gay people housing, jobs and more.
Supporters say it would protect religious freedom.
It protects nothing & nobody. Unless all are equal under the law, NONE are equal. No one’s religious freedoms are being denied -but some believe they need to legalize their desire to discriminate simply based on finding another’s life choices disagreeable. If you own a public business, cater to the public, are an employer -our Supreme Court has already said discrimination against anyone is illegal, and have singled out certain classes of people for added protection against discrimination precisely because of bigotry which is cloaked in many guises, but is bigotry nonetheless. These legislators are capitulating to pressure from the religious fanatics who have invaded our hallowed halls of govt on local, State, and Federal levels with one agenda & desire in mind: To make America over into a Christian Nation. This goes against our Constitution and Bill of Rights. It goes against clarifications already handed down by our Supreme Court. It is a waste of taxpayer money! Those who are engaging in passing laws legalizing discrimination against ANYONE ought to be ousted for being UNAmerican. You can best believe this is a double-edged sword. How would people with strongly held religious beliefs like it if businesses and employers decided it was okay to discriminate against them? See how it all works? Which is to say, IT DOESN’T work. Missouri legislators better get on the right side of this issue and stop wasting time on legalizing discrimination against ANYONE.