On Wednesday morning's edition of "Morning Joe," hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski discussed Indiana's "religious freedom" law that would essentially allow businesses to refuse to serve same-sex couples.
Scarborough took the unexpected position of defending the rights of business owners:
"I mean these are firmly held beliefs that people have had for thousands of years, and you can call it bigotry if you want to, but just because the attitude of the United States of America has changed over the past decade doesn't mean that we on the set in Manhattan should judge, I'm sorry, a florist in Little Rock, Arkansas or in Indianapolis," said Scarborough.
"I'm sure I'm going to get in trouble for this," he continued, "but I'm sorry, everybody is marching lock-step. I wouldn't do it, but at the same time, if somebody believes that marriage should be between a man and a woman, I just wonder, where do their rights stop? I mean, can you no longer go into business as a florist in America if you believe that a man marrying a man or a woman marrying a woman is a sin? And I'm just asking a question."
Guest Steve Rattner then wisely retorted: "Should the florist be compelled to provide flowers for a wedding between a black person and a white person? Suppose they don't believe in intermarriage? Should they be compelled to provide flowers to a black person and a white person?"
"It's ridiculous," said Brzezinski. "Please."
Watch the clip below, courtesy of Media Matters:
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