Gay Rights And Religious Freedom In Indiana

Indiana’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Critics call it anti-gay. Business leaders say bad for the economy. The governor’s not backing down. We’ll dive in.

The lead editorial in the Indianapolis Star today could not be more blunt and urgent. Indiana is in a “state of crisis” it says. Over the passage last week of its highly controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and a white hot national backlash. Governor Mike Pence – a potential Republican presidential contender – says it’s not about anti-gay discrimination. A whole lot of people are not buying that. Artists are bailing out of Indiana. Corporations are bailing out. “Fix this now,” says the front page of the Star. This hour On Point: Gay rights, resistance, religion and Indiana.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Stephanie Wang, reporter for the Indianapolis Star. (@stephaniewang)

Steve Sanders, law professor at Indiana University, Bloomington. (@stevessanders)

Ryan McCann, director of operations and public policy at the Indiana Family Institute, a public policy advocacy organization. (@ifiryan)

Dominic Holden, national LGBT reporter for BuzzFeed News. (@dominicholden)

Indianapolis Star: What the 'religious freedom' law really means for Indiana — "The argument over what Pence has thus signed becomes not only intellectual, but visceral, vitriolic, ugly. Both sides dig in, because each thinks the other is flatly wrong— in their hearts, and on the facts. And the debate rages on, sometimes spiraling to a place so far away from the law itself. All of which raises a larger question. Which really matters most: What the religious freedom law will actually legally enable; what people think it means; or what the intent is behind the law?"

The Wall Street Journal: Ensuring Religious Freedom in Indiana -- "I abhor discrimination. I believe in the Golden Rule that you should 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you.' If I saw a restaurant owner refuse to serve a gay couple, I wouldn’t eat there anymore. As governor of Indiana, if I were presented a bill that legalized discrimination against any person or group, I would veto it. Indiana’s new law contains no reference to sexual orientation. It simply mirrors federal law that President Bill Clinton signed in 1993."

Washington Post: Tim Cook: Pro-discrimination ‘religious freedom’ laws are dangerous — "These bills rationalize injustice by pretending to defend something many of us hold dear. They go against the very principles our nation was founded on, and they have the potential to undo decades of progress toward greater equality."