In an appearance on “CNN Tonight” on Wednesday, libertarian-leaning entertainer Penn Jillette weighed in on the controversy surrounding Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act and where he perceived the line to be drawn when it comes to what the law gives the government the authority to do and not to do.
“I don’t want to misrepresent myself as an expert, but there is more to gay sex than cake and flowers,” he said. “These people are not being asked to engage in gay sex or even endorse gay sex, they’re being asked to sell flowers and cake to people, and that is hypothetical. And I’m a libertarian and an atheist so I am fighting myself on this, and I don’t like the government involved in telling the people what to do and I certainly want the people to have religious freedom, because the only way that people who don’t have religion and have freedom is for people who do have religion have freedom.”
“But all in the same way, we have to make sure that we don’t get too crazy in the hypotheticals, and we are not talking about forcing people to engage in gay sex or even endorse gay sex,” Jillette continued. “We are asking them that maybe they can treat people the same as other people, and that does not seem unreasonable. It is OK, I suppose, although goofy to be against gays, but it is not OK to be against people who simply want to use your services as a business. I mean the free market should take care of this faster than anything.”
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor
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