Republicans are desperately
fighting against the increasing acceptance of homosexuality in America. They
just suffered a resounding defeat in Indiana.
Here is what happened. The Indiana
legislature passed a bill designed to allow private businesses to refuse
service to people they don’t like on the grounds of religious belief. According
to the official digest of the law, “a state or local government action may not
substantially burden a person's right to the exercise of religion”. In plain
English, the Republicans were seeking to override
local ordinances in Indianapolis and other cities which banned
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. This new law would have
allowed a florist or restaurant to refuse service to homosexuals and then
defend themselves on the basis of religious belief. Indiana has no state laws
which ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
This law is called the
Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it would restore the right to
discriminate against homosexuals, which had been removed by these local
anti-discrimination ordinances. It is clear that the purpose of the Indiana
RFRA was to continue the Republican struggle against gay rights. Last year
Republicans failed in a legislative attempt to amend the Indiana constitution
to ban
same-sex marriage. Immediately Micah Clark, executive director of the
American Family Association of Indiana, said, “If there is no way to protect
marriage as the union of a man and a woman, then we must protect the freedom of
conscience, thought and speech on marriage in Indiana.” Other organizations
which oppose same-sex marriage began to advocate that the Indiana legislature
pass the RFRA, such as Advance America, which is explicit on its website about
the anti-gay purpose of
the law. When Gov. Mike Pence signed the RFRA, representatives of these
groups were honored
guests.
Then all hell broke loose. Major
corporations who do big business in Indiana said the law was bad and this
might keep them from spending money in the state. Angie's List announced it
would cancel a proposed $40 million expansion project that meant 1,000 jobs in
Indianapolis. Apple CEO Tim Cook said such laws are “dangerous”, and the
president of the NCAA said he hoped the law would be amended. The Indianapolis Chamber
of Commerce said it favored changing the state’s civil rights code to ban
discrimination based on sexual orientation. The CEO’s of Wal-Mart and Nike
joined in the chorus criticizing the law. A number of states and cities banned
officials from traveling to Indiana.
This is a classic case of the
clash between two world-views: belief in universal equality and religious
intolerance. Religious belief was used to justify earlier forms of
discrimination. Some Christians
asserted that passages in the Bible proved the inferiority and sinfulness
of Jews and blacks, and thus made racist laws acceptable.
But the entry of big
business, fearing economic repercussions, has changed the game. Indiana
Republicans retreated as fast as they could. A “fix”
was proposed that stated that the law could not be used to discriminate against
gay customers. It passed the legislature within a few days, and Gov. Pence
signed it hours later. But when asked whether it is wrong to discriminate
against gay people, Gov. Pence has consistently
refused to answer.
This is not a local Indiana
issue, but a wider Republican effort to keep fighting the battle over gay
rights. Senator Marco Rubio from Florida said businesses should have the right
to discriminate. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal defended the right
of businesses to deny services to homosexual couples. Jindal said he did
not support “special legal protections” for the gay community.
A poll last fall shows that Americans
are still divided about whether a wedding-related business should be
allowed to refuse services to a gay couple: 49% said no, and 47% said yes. Breaking
down those figures, it is older white evangelical Republicans who believe such
discrimination should be allowed.
As long as the most
conservative Republicans, those most likely to vote in primaries, demand that
their party fight against equality for homosexuals, Republican politicians seem
incapable of resisting. They line up with the Russian Orthodox Church and
Russian President Putin in asserting that their religion demands discrimination.
Most Christians, here and in the rest of the world, disagree.
But they are losing their
battle. A similar
legislative battle in Arkansas also ended in changes to the proposed law. The
Georgia
legislature let a similar bill die quietly. Republican governors in
Michigan and North Dakota have urged their legislatures to ban discrimination
against gays. The clumsy effort in Indiana to encourage discrimination has
backfired.
Steve Hochstadt
Jacksonville IL
Published in the Jacksonville
Journal-Courier, April 7, 2015
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