UPDATE 3:25pm Pacific: Gov. Pence just signed the “fixed” bill.
Indiana Senate President Pro Tem David Long, (R-Fort Wayne) and House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) announced a “fix” to the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act that prompted protests, a nationwide boycott and damaged the state’s “welcoming” reputation with its broad language that permitted discrimination against LGBT people.
The “fix,” which they’ve presented to Gov. Mike Pence Thursday morning, was reached after consultation with business, civic and sports leaders who strongly opposed the law.
“Hoosier hospitality had to be restored,” Bosma said, apologizing to the state for the backlash. “Is the damage able to be turned back? That remains to be seen.”
The “fix” contains specific language disallowing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, though religious exemptions are allowed for religious non-profit organizations and religious-affiliated schools. There is not specific language regarding whether a doctor, nurse or hospital that operates under a religious sponsor – such as Catholic Charity hospitals – are permitted to discriminate.
Among the leaders standing with the legislators were Allison Melangton, head of planning for the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis, Jim Morris, vice chair of the Indiana Pacers, former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, who is an Eli Lilly and Co. executive, and Salesforce Marketing Cloud CEO Scott McCorkle.
“The healing needs to begin right now,” said Peterson.
But not everyone is pleased, including both the Christian Right and some LGBT leaders.
Ryan T. Anderson, writing for the conservative Heritage Foundation, says protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity are “bad policy.” The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action are the think tanks for the conservative right and come up with their talking points. Anderson’s writes :
And the proposed “fix” amounts to nothing less than a wholesale repeal of the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act with respect to those who need religious liberty protections the most…
It is important to note that this fix does not create new sexual orientation and gender identity privileges in Indiana; it says that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act cannot protect citizens from existing (municipal) Indiana sexual orientation and gender identity laws and ensuing coercion from government.
In other words, it eliminates any balancing test for sexual liberty and religious liberty. It says sexual orientation should trump religious liberty. That’s bad policy.
All citizens should oppose unjust discrimination, but sexual orientation and gender identity laws are not the way to achieve that goal. Sexual orientation and gender identity laws threaten fundamental First Amendment rights. These laws create new, subjective protected classes that will expose employers to unimaginable liability, and would increase government interference in labor markets in ways that could harm the economy.
Once again, Anderson and Heritage put forth the old “special rights” argument.
“Sexual orientation and gender identity laws do not protect equality before the law. Instead, they create special privileges that are enforceable against private actors,” he writes. “We should respect the intrinsic dignity of all people, but sexual orientation and gender identity laws are bad public policy. They threaten our freedoms and unite civil libertarians concerned about free speech and religious liberty, free marketers concerned about freedom of contract and government interference in the marketplace, and social conservatives concerned about marriage and culture. Religious freedom bills, by contrast, protect against government coercion. They don’t infringe on anyone’s rights. They simply create a standard that government must meet before it violates the free exercise of religion of any citizen.”
Anderson also emphatically decries the linking of the Religious Right’s “right to dissent” with the Jim Crow laws of the South during desegregation that enforced “separate but equal” laws based on race. “It is outrageous and irresponsible for activists to compare such dissent to racism and Jim Crow. What does marriage have to do with race? Absolutely nothing,” writes Anderson, apparently unaware of the arguments offered by attorney Ted Olson during the federal Prop 8 trial that specifically linked discrimination against same sex couples with bias against inter-racial couples in Loving v Virginia.
Of course, Brian Brown, head of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) chimed in with his lie-based opinion and fundraising appeal with “Stop the Indiana Train Wreck!”
“Stung by a furor of false accusations against the Indiana Religious Liberty Restoration Act, some Republican legislators are proposing to “fix” the law by stripping it of any chance to protect people of faith against being forced by law to participate in same-sex ‘marriage’ ceremonies that violate their deeply held religious beliefs.”
Not true. No one will be “forced by law” to participate in same sex marriage ceremonies.
Brown throws in a little anti-Hollywood sentiment:
“Worse, they are rewarding gay activists and celebrities like Miley Cyrus who intentionally and massively mischaracterized the legislation passed last week with expanded “anti-discrimination” provisions that will be used as a club by these same activists to punish people of faith for supporting biblical principles in the way they live their lives.”
As if non-Christians haven’t been bullied by biblical principles, such as confining marriage civil laws to straight couples. And here is a hyper-ventilating Brian Brown in over-drive:
This “fix” legislation must be defeated! It is like paying ransom to a kidnapper — a complete abandonment of principle in the face of political pressure from those bent on redefining marriage and imposing a radical agenda on the country.
Please sign this petition immediately so that Governor Mike Pence and top Republican legislators realize that we will not stand for this abandonment of people of faith in order to reward the radical left who have grossly mischaracterized the Religious Liberty Restoration Act.
The petition goes to Act Right, where it has only 906 signatures so far.
Meanwhile, some major opponents of the RFRA weren’t so happy with the “fix” either.
“The changes proposed by the Legislature represent a step in the right direction that takes us closer to achieving our goal of passing the Fairness for All Hoosiers Act,” said Freedom Indiana Campaign Manager Katie Blair. “It’s long past time to enact a comprehensive nondiscrimination law,…and we must continue to work to ensure, once and for all, that the RFRA cannot be used to discriminate against or hurt anyone.”
Angie’s List CEO Bill Oesterle was more firm. “Our position is that this ‘fix’ is insufficient,” Oesterle said. “There was no repeal of RFRA and no end to discrimination of homosexuals in Indiana. Employers in most of the state of Indiana can fire a person simply for being Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning. That’s just not right and that’s the real issue here. Our employees deserve to live, work and travel with open accommodations in any part of the state.”
The Human Rights Campaign thinks “the proposal fails to explicitly ensure that the RFRA won’t be used to undermine the full scope of Indiana existing non-discrimination laws” and “falls far short” of adding non-discrimination protections for LGBT Hoosiers to the state’s civil rights laws.
“Though this legislation is certainly a step back from the cliff, this fight is not over until every person in Indiana is fully equal under the law. At the federal level and in all 50 states, the time has come in this country for comprehensive legal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people that cannot be undermined,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “Statewide non-discrimination protections for LGBT Hoosiers still do not exist, meaning discrimination is still legal in most of the state. Businesses in Indiana have made it clear that the state must pass a statewide non-discrimination law that protects all Hoosiers from discrimination and ensures that Indiana is seen as a welcoming place to visit and do business.”
Jennifer C. Pizer, National Director of Lambda Legal’s Law and Policy Project, concurred:.
“Now that there’s broad public understanding that gay and transgender people in much of Indiana are terribly vulnerable to arbitrary discrimination by businesses, refusal of housing, and being fired just for being who they are–and even Gov. Pence has agreed that that is wrong—that unacceptable situation requires a full solution. We’ve provided multiple options of straightforward bill language. This is not a complicated or novel task. Many states have done it with only positive results economically and socially. The time is now. America is watching.
“Indiana’s RFRA is an ill-conceived law that invites religiously motivated refusals to comply with laws that protect everyone. The state’s elected leadership today has taken one step to reduce these refusal problems by amending the RFRA to ensure compliance with civil rights laws. Now they need to complete the fix by actually providing those basic protections that LGBT people need to be equal and safe in the Hoosier State, and by further amending RFRA to prevent it from being used to excuse any harm to other people.”
As of now, Gov. Pence has not indicated whether he will sign the “fix” and LGBT and allies have not indicated what they will do if he does.