With outrage mounting against a religious-freedom law that critics charge is discriminatory, Indiana’s government is in damage-control mode – while similar legislation in Arkansas is set to reignite the debate all over again.
Indiana’s Republican Governor, Mike Pence, gave a news conference on Tuesday defending the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which LGBT advocates, Democrats and a growing number of state businesses are rallying against because they fear it will open the door to discrimination. Mr. Pence said these fears were unfounded, but said he would press the state General Assembly to “correct” the law this week to clarify that businesses cannot deny services to anyone. “We will fix this and we will move forward,” he said.
The Arkansas House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a “religious freedom” bill similar to one approved in Indiana. Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson has said he would sign the measure.
Here’s how the conflict over Arkansas and Indiana's legislation is shaping up now.
What the laws say
Indiana: The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signed by Mr. Pence last week, says the state “shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion.” The law extends not just to individuals, but to businesses and religious institutions.
Arkansas: The Arkansas bill would prohibit state and local governments from infringing on someone’s religious beliefs without a “compelling” reason. Critics fear it will chip away at protections against discrimination in a state where sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in anti-discrimination protections.
Are these states alone? No. Nineteen other states have similar laws on the books, and similar proposals have been introduced in more than a dozen, patterned after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.
What’s different about these laws? Timing. With the U.S. Supreme Court set to hear arguments in April about whether state bans on same-sex marriage are constitutional, the Indiana and Arkansas laws have taken on a renewed significance. (Same-sex marriage is currently legal in Indiana, but not yet in Arkansas, where a ruling that cleared the way for same-sex unions is awaiting appeal.)
(Michael Babad: Don’t visit Indiana if you’re gay. Or a Jewish atheist with a Catholic wife)
What Indiana businesses say
Fearing that the law will drive tourists and businesses away from the state, some of Indiana’s top CEOs wrote a letter to the Governor and the state's Senate and House of Representatives leaders on Monday urging them to ensure protections against LGBT discrimination were included in the bill. “As we seek to attract and retain great talent from Indiana and around the world, it is critical that we make it clear that Indiana is the welcoming state we all believe it to be,” the letter says. Its signatories include the CEO of Eli Lilly, headquartered in Indianapolis, which is the state’s largest publicly traded company.
(Read more on the business critics of Indiana’s law)
What the media says
The editorial boards of several local and U.S. media outlets, including The New York Times, have come out against Indiana’s law. The Indianapolis Star ran a front-page editorial saying the law risked harming the state’s reputation, saying “only bold action – action that sends an unmistakable message to the world that our state will not tolerate discrimination against any of its citizens – will be enough to reverse the damage.” The paper also urged Indianans to rally against discrimination under the hashtag #WeAreIndiana.
What Silicon Valley says
Apple CEO Tim Cook has been an early and outspoken advocate against the law. Outlining the company’s position in an op-ed piece for the Washington Post on Sunday, Mr. Cook said the tech giant would never tolerate discrimination, “regardless of what the law might allow in Indiana or Arkansas.”
Twitter Inc. has also taken an official stand on the issue, tweeting from the account of its global public policy team that it was “disappointed” in the laws.
We’re disappointed to see state bills that enshrine discrimination. These bills are unjust and bad for business. We support #EqualityForAll.
— Policy (@policy) March 30, 2015What college basketball says
The controversy over Indiana’s new law comes as the NCAA prepares to host the men’s Final Four basketball tournament in Indianapolis next week. “We will work diligently to assure student-athletes competing in, and visitors attending, next week’s men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said in a statement. “Moving forward, we intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce.”
With reports from David Kennedy, Reuters and Associated Press