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Arizona lawmakers pass controversial anti-gay bill
By Ray Sanchez and Miguel Marquez, CNN
updated 7:57 PM EST, Fri February 21, 2014


(CNN) -- Arizona's Legislature has passed a controversial bill that would allow business owners, as long as they assert their religious beliefs, to deny service to gay and lesbian customers.

The bill, which the state House of Representatives passed by a 33-27 vote Thursday, now goes to Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican and onetime small business owner who vetoed similar legislation last year but has expressed the right of business owners to deny service.

"I think anybody that owns a business can choose who they work with or who they don't work with," Brewer told CNN in Washington on Friday. "But I don't know that it needs to be statutory. In my life and in my businesses, if I don't want to do business or if I don't want to deal with a particular company or person or whatever, I'm not interested. That's America. That's freedom.".....................>>>>................>>>>..............http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/21/us/arizona-anti-gay-bill/index.html?hpt=hp_t2