A Missouri state senator is sponsoring one of those vile, hateful "religious liberty" bigotry bills that would codify in law second class citizen status for gay and lesbian Missourians and allow business owners who "hates fags" to refuse service based on religious freedom. This could mean refusing to sell gasoline to the driver of a car sporting a rainbow flag — or a Darwin fish — because the propietor is a good Christian and confident that Jesus would discriminate, too.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Wayne Wallingford of Cape Girardeau, states that a governmental authority shall not substantially burden a person's free exercise of religion unless the government demonstrates that it has a compelling interest. To supporters of the idea - similar to legislation filed in several other states - the goal is to make it clear that private individuals can use religious beliefs as a defense in litigation. "We're trying to protect Missourians from attacks on their religious freedom," Wallingford said. Opponents contend bills like Wallingford's would allow businesses to discriminate against anyone they do not like, most notably gays and lesbians. "It's a legislative attempt to legalize discrimination toward (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) individuals," said A.J. Bockelman, executive director of the LGBT rights organization PROMO. Wallingford said he based the bill loosely on legislation that has been debated in other states, such as Kansas and Arizona. He pointed to instances that have cropped up in debate in those other states.

When I saw the article on the Kansas City Star site yesterday, I first hit the ceiling, then I put my "journalist" hat on and called his office (that number is 573-751-2459 if you want to call him) and I got his office voice mail. I identified myself by name and press affiliation as well as my phone number, and said I just had one question: If he was personally financially responsible for defending this blatantly unconstitutional violation of the Establishment Clause in the courts, instead of the bill falling to the taxpayers of this state, would he still be sponsoring it? I then repeated my name and affiliation and phone number, and asked for someone to please call me back. Quelle surprise...no one did.

He should have called me back and talked to me. If he had, and I had posted to Facebook what he said, that might have kept my friend Don (a vicious Intellectual Property attorney, by-the-way) from goading him into a public melt-down:

Wallingford's response to my friend? He called him a "faggot" and a "shithead" and told him to contact his local paper because he didn't "fucking care."

It didn't take him long to realize that wasn't the smartest course of action, that he soon would care, and he started back-peddling and asking to "negotiate."

Too late. The horse was out of the barn now all the world knows that he is not just a hateful bigot, but a thin-skinned one who has a hair-trigger temper at that.

How very...Christian...of him.