Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signs controversial 'religious freedom' bill

Today, governor Mike Pence signed a law that would potentially allow businesses to refuse services to members of the LGBT community. The new law will prohibit a governmental entity from substantially burdening a person’s religious beliefs, unless that entity can prove it’s relying on the least restrictive means possible to further a governmental interest. It’s similar to the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which gained media attention in the Supreme Court’s controversial Hobby Lobby ruling last year. That decision found that closely-held corporations wouldn’t have to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate if the owners had a sincerely-held religious objection to birth control. Supporters say the bill is designed to protect people’s religious beliefs from government intrusion. But opponents argue the measure serves as a license to discriminate, particularly against LGBT people, on religious grounds. Gov. Pence was quick to defend the bill today saying

“This bill is not about discrimination, and if I thought it legalized discrimination in any way in Indiana, I would have vetoed it,” he said. “In fact, it does not even apply to disputes between private parties unless government action is involved. For more than twenty years, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act has never undermined our nation’s anti-discrimination laws, and it will not in Indiana.”

The governor of Arizona vetoed a similar bill last year after intense pressure from major US companies like Apple and American Airlines. In the past week, an array of critics put pressure on Pence to veto the measure, including actor and director George Takei, the CEO of Salesforce, and the organizers of Gen Con, who threatened to move the well known convention if the bill was passed. The NCAA also voiced concern over the bill. Here is a link to the bill and a few articles.
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"This bill is not about discrimination" I'm calling BS on this one. Slippery slope....

Pence... hmmm....

Wasn't he the one whom in the last POTUS election cycle was considering running as a moderate Republican but didn't run as some (pundits) had hoped?

a reply to: kevinp2300

I am from Indiana and this makes me sick! I am always defending my state when people refer to us as a bunch of hicks or hay seeds. I feel like I can no longer stick up for IN.

After the ISTEP/Glenda Ritz debacle...I am wondering if Pence is trying his best to run this state into the ground. Luckily, I don't think a ton of businesses are going to discriminate, but I know there is a lot of talk of Gen Con pulling out of Indy as well as other events. I hope they do!

a reply to: kevinp2300

Honestly, if a person like the florist (wherever that was) doesn't want to do the flowers for a gay weeding why the hell should she be forced to. I don't understand how you can force a business to do something they don't want to. If you hate black people why cant you put a sign out that says "No blacks allowed." If you hate guys in turtlenecks why cant you just put out a sign that says " Turtlenecks are Verboten" or "No fat chicks."

I wish our fascist government would allow us all the freedom to choose, but they seem hell bent on pushing what they want onto us. Consequently, we have to laws to protect your right to things like the OP is about. I personally like gays, blacks and fat chicks just fine (but i put my foot down on turtlenecks) and if a store wouldn't allow them inside, then i wouldn't go in either. That is what freedom is about, some people will have the freedom to be asshats.


V

a reply to: kevinp2300

i dont get why gays are so hell bent on supporting businesses that dont like them

just move on..grow a pair

a reply to: Variable

My question is, where does it stop? Religion? Sexuality? Race?

a reply to: Autorico

I guess it all depends on what religion you claim and what their beliefs are. I think the reason why they mention the LGBT community is because most Christians are against same sex couples(although many have stepped into this century in that regard).

Isn't the KKK considered a religious group? So, hypothetically, if a KKK guy ran a business...couldn't he be allowed to only accept white customers?

We already tried it and it didn't work too well.

Imagine the mayor does not like you for some reason and suggests to grocers and gas stations not to sell to you and your family?

Or last chance gas station in death valley, they decide they don't like your bumper stickers so no gas for you.

Businesses are not people, they don't have the same rights and should have to cater to anyone who can afford their services (think of it as a trade-off for being allowed to operate in the USA economy.)

a reply to: nikkib0421

The KKK is considered a terrorist organisation as far as I can see. I did look it up but couldn't find a us gov site.

Can't wait for that 'freedom from religion' bill........... I truly think once a few more generations die off that things wont be so back and forth, red versus blue, 'us' versus 'them' stagnant crazy. Well.. I can hope lol.

But the religious insanity (and pretending it's not insanity) is getting a little old...

I hope it ends with something other than these groups of people slowly losing their minds and becoming more and more irrational and unreasonable and potentially violent as they start to realize the world is not turning backwards.

Meh... it's depressing. :\

I think this law will be challenged in court and be repealed.

a reply to: kevinp2300

yeah this wont stand constitutional muster.

Waste of time and political capital.

I guess we all need to start putting up signs telling the world who we hate and refuse to do business with from now on. What a great day it will be when on the front of every store will be a sign with a list of who they won't let inside.

It should be standardized too like:

We are bigots who hate the following,
Christians
Blacks
Mexicans
Disabled
Elderly (over 60)
Republicans
etc.

Once that is everywhere I suppose the only people who will get any service are those who don't belong to any groups at all although by race we will all belong to at least one. This is a great idea to separate everyone from all groups everywhere. Plus it has the added benefit of making everyone wear their bigotry on their sleeves for the world to see.

Thanks Christians for this cool new policy of hatred toward others. I was getting tired of all that tolerance for other people. It's about time we put our hate and dislike for the differences between all people in the forefront.

In fact I think we should all personally thank every christian we see for these new changes. How nice America will be from this point on.

Been following this for a few weeks.

I hope it backfires Big Time.

Lots of major businesses are boycotting.

originally posted by: Terminal1
Pence... hmmm....

Wasn't he the one whom in the last POTUS election cycle was considering running as a moderate Republican but didn't run as some (pundits) had hoped?

He is still planning on running for president.

At least that's what I read.

a reply to: mOjOm

What is the difference between businesses not allowing black people to eat in the same restaurant as white people and businesses' not allowing LGBT to eat in the same restaurant as straight people?

If you are a member of a religion who has ideological differences when it comes to LGBT that's fine (although I have issues with that mindset).. Why would you think it would be ok to drag that personal belief into business?

Secondly having government get involved is problematic, even more so when it tries to legalize discrimination.

Whats next, religious people denying lunch to atheists?

originally posted by: Autorico
a reply to: Variable

My question is, where does it stop? Religion? Sexuality? Race?

It's been repeated ad nauseum that a business that serves the public, serves ALL the public. Right to refuse Service applies to behavior ---- not who a person is. Die hards continue to put blinders on and refuse to understand the simple difference.

All the Atheists in Indiana should put their pins on and go shopping ----- then report on it.

There is a place to report if you are discriminated against for being LGBT.

a reply to: Xcathdra

There isn't a difference. Denying service to blacks or LGBT or Elderly is all the same type of Discrimination.

The reason it's ok to push your personal beliefs with your business is because "my closely held beliefs" must permeate everything else around me. Therefore if I'm a bigot who hates certain groups so should my business. Since my Religion tells me to hate certain people for no other reason than just because of who they are it trumps all other laws and reason.

Well the government has for too long been there to protect everyone equally so now this will correct that and allow all organizations and groups to hate on each other and deny equality to each other just as The Almighty Lord and Savior always wanted.

Deny Atheists, Deny Christians, Deny by Race, Deny by Social Status, you name it!!!

This will divide the entire nation into little hate groups that battle against each other. Doesn't that sound awesome???

a reply to: kevinp2300

This might actually have a silver lining.

First it's likely to open the floodgates to religious battles in these states, exposing the stupidity of such laws. There is technically now nothing stopping a Pagan person from putting a sign up banning all Christians from their business. Someone claiming to be Christian could now use this law to refuse to serve divorced people. Christians can now refuse to serve certain products to anyone at all. Muslims can refuse to serve Jewish people, and Christians.

Ultimately, we're likely to see even more laws being passed in these states to "protect Christians" from the discrimination THEY HAVE CREATED. This will then likely result in the federal government having to step in and slap all these states back into line.

It's also going to cost these states billions in revenue. They've basically just handed Democratic states a few more billion $'s a year each as companies start moving their attention to more tolerant parts of the country.

This can only all go one way, all the stats are showing that Americans are becoming more liberal in their thinking, and less religious. They are increasingly f-ed off with the Republican preaching, the Tea Baggers, the moral nonsense and the religious lunacy. The youth are increasingly leaning to the left.

Anything which diminishes the rabid right-wing and their crackpot cultists is fine with me, even if we have to put up their utter nonsense for a few years with laws like these. This might all end up being pretty entertaining, even though I feel sorry for those caught up in this stupidity in these states.