Pence signs 'religious freedom' bill Wal Mart reacts - MERGE

[salex]

indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/03/25/gov-mike-pence-sign-religious-freedom-bill-thursday/70448858/

. . .Senate Bill 101 prohibits state or local governments from substantially burdening a person's ability to exercise their religion — unless the government can show that it has a compelling interest and that the action is the least-restrictive means of achieving it. It takes effect July 1.

Although the bill does not mention sexual orientation, opponents fear it could allow business owners to deny services to gays and lesbians for religious reasons.

Pence signed the bill during a private ceremony in his Statehouse office just before 10 a.m. Thursday. He was joined by supportive lawmakers, Franciscan monks and nuns, orthodox Jews, and some of the state's most powerful lobbyists on conservative social issues.

The event was closed to the public and the press.. . .

[doggie]

Ok deny Christians services see what happens

[Toothfairy]

I swear christians(some) think they're gods gift to the rest of us. Now if it were the other way around they would be bitching and moaning about how this is America and we have freedom of religion.

I always hate how religious people tell us not to disagree with them because they are allowed to believe in what they choose to, yet they go and use their beliefs as a reason to stop others from doing what they believe in when its not hurting anyone. Hypocrisy at its best.

[Delilah]

Legally sanctioned discrimination masquerading as religious freedom.

I could throw up.

Do any of the legal minds here have any thoughts about how such an unjust law will be challenged? It's got to be unconstitutional, right?

The ACLU? Ruth Bader Ginsberg? Somebody?

[mirele]

Legally sanctioned discrimination masquerading as religious freedom.

I could throw up.

Do any of the legal minds here have any thoughts about how such an unjust law will be challenged? It's got to be unconstitutional, right?

The ACLU? Ruth Bader Ginsberg? Somebody?

I'm not worried that it won't be challenged. People are just waiting for a test case. (Really, in a situation like this, you don't want to go off and just sue, you want to have your ducks lined up.)

In the meantime, George Takei has asked his Facebook and Twitter followers to boycott Indiana. I wasn't planning on visiting Indiana so this is an easy boycott to honor.

[Curious]

There was an article that went by on my FB feed that said Salesforce (I don't know what kind of company it is, but it makes a lot of money and is an S&B 500 company) warned Pence that if he signed the bill, they would be pulling out of Indiana and apparently they made good on that "threat."

They announced they will no longer be sending employees or customers to Indiana and will halt all expansion plans there due to Pence signing the bill.

There were several other companies/people (including George Takei) that had written to Pence to warn of the consequences of signing the bill, but he didn't listen.

I will be interested to see how this plays out and if other companies follow suit. I'm sure there are plenty of states that would love the revenue and don't sanction this kind of discrimination.

[KittenMitten]

Do you think that the Gov Pence will have the gall to yelp Christian Persecution? I wish I had a reason to go to Indiana so I could cancel the trip. I also need to check out Salesforce and see if I can afford stock. Thanks for the info Curious.

[Sundaymorning]

This bill is truly ridiculous. If you got to have these anti-discrimination laws in first place, they ought to apply to everyone, no exceptions. I hate it how some conservatives/fundies from all kinds of religions always try to get special treatments under the law. It's the same around here, and it's maddening.

[Peas n carrots]

Indiana advertises around Chicago to move your family and business there because taxes are cheaper there. I always LOL at those...yeah lower taxes would be nice, but there is a reason Chicagoans aren't leaving to move there in droves. This bill just gives us city folk another reason not to move there.

[apple1]

Indiana advertises around Chicago to move your family and business there because taxes are cheaper there. I always LOL at those...yeah lower taxes would be nice, but there is a reason Chicagoans aren't leaving to move there in droves. This bill just gives us city folk another reason not to move there.

Slightly off topic: (I was born in Indiana. I currently live about 40 miles from Indiana). My grandfather - long deceased now - was known for complaining vociferously about how high Indiana taxes were.

No joke - Indiana once had a license plate, Indiana, land of taxes. Seriously.

I guess the advertising you are mentioning maybe refers to city/local taxes being less than Chicago's. I don't think it could be Indiana's state taxes being less than Illinois'.

[Howl]

There was an article that went by on my FB feed that said Salesforce (I don't know what kind of company it is, but it makes a lot of money and is an S&B 500 company) warned Pence that if he signed the bill, they would be pulling out of Indiana and apparently they made good on that "threat."

They announced they will no longer be sending employees or customers to Indiana and will halt all expansion plans there due to Pence signing the bill.

There were several other companies/people (including George Takei) that had written to Pence to warn of the consequences of signing the bill, but he didn't listen.

I will be interested to see how this plays out and if other companies follow suit. I'm sure there are plenty of states that would love the revenue and don't sanction this kind of discrimination.

It is interesting to me that in some states, businesses are the ones clamoring AGAINST these types of ridiculous laws because they give the state a bad rep and people decline to go there for tourism. I think some of these politicians are just trying to polish their Tea Party, far-right wing cred by putting forth these laws and then enacting them. Other politicians are too chicken shit to fight it because they fear it will damage their support with the Tea Party, far-right wing of the voting base. Bleeeech.

I live in Texas and the Texas lege is batting one of these laws around, in spite of the law that people never think about: the law of unintended consequences. An yes, it is being batted around in spite of the fact that there are already laws that address this.

[GeoBQn]

The CEO of Gen Con sent a letter to Pence saying that if he signed the bill, they would be looking to other places to hold their gaming convention. It was slated to be in Indianapolis through 2020 and brings the city $50 million annually. Of course from reading the articles about it I couldn't tell if they intended to break the contract and move immediately, or move after 2020. Well, they sent another letter and they are going to stay in Indy through 2020 and then "consider" other cities. I understand there are a lot of financial and legal ramifications to finding another location sooner, but it really doesn't feel like a strong moral statement to say, "That's it, Pence! You'll get only 5 more years of our money!"

[Becket70]

Pence was interviewed and asked to name a problem that had occurred in the state which had required this law. He could not name one. In other words, this law was a solution in search of a problem. So typical of GOP governance. The law was a bone thrown to a small but vocal group. Now that it has passed, one wonders what is the next law this group is going to demand. They never stop demanding. Pence was shown to be a profile in cowardice. Nobody ever attacks Christians' right to worship. Nobody prevents them from going to church. Nobody says they cannot pray at home. Nobody says were are taking their holidays away. If gays offend their sensibilities, too bad. That's life. Hopefully, with the use of the "We Accept Everybody" signs in shop windows, some Christian business' will go under. There are ways to get back at them, too. Devious, funny ways. Ways that should be video-tapped. Ways involving semi-pro actors. If I lived there I would form a troupe....

[Curious]

Do you think that the Gov Pence will have the gall to yelp Christian Persecution? I wish I had a reason to go to Indiana so I could cancel the trip. I also need to check out Salesforce and see if I can afford stock. Thanks for the info Curious.

I didn't find the original article I read, but this one has the same info re: salesforce and also lists 6 other consequences that have happened so far.

I have a friend that actually knows the writer (#7) and he posted this article: http://www.advocate.com/indiana/2015/03 ... us-freedom

[Eater of Worlds]

I like how Audra McDonald likened this to Jim Crow laws.

[MamaJunebug]

It will never cease to amaze me how people don't see the potential uses of bad pieces of legislation like this one.

NB: In all the following, I'm talking not about normal, sane, moderate members of these religions, but of extremists a la Pence's backers.

A Muslim-owned business could reject any "infidels" from entering its property.

A neopagan-owned business not only could reject believers in a single god from its property, but could challenge the right of omnivores to walk too close to its doorways, lest their bad auras affect their premises.

An FLDS businessman could insist on having all howevermany wives on his health insurance plan since for the insurance company to deny more than one spouse would be an imposition on the FLDS'ers religious freedom.

I was in Indiana a few months ago. What amazed me was the contempt and fear that several Hoosiers - liberal and conservative - expressed about the Metro St. Louis bi-state area. It was crime-RIDDEN. They wouldn't venture into my backwater Illinois town because, y'know, crime's crime and you're associated with it. Oh, also, they called the metro an unentertaining, provincial place with nothing to do. Egads. Any area has its problems, but when you have (among many other things) three opera companies, a world-class zoo and restaurants that run the gamut from Russian to Peruvian and back again ... it's just difficult to think of the words "unentertaining" and "provincial."

My point being not to defend the St.L metro, but to wonder what's in the water in Indiana, and to feel a little sorry for my friends there. Odd and extreme beliefs from all sides, it seems.

[sparkles]

I think non-Christians would have a hard time making their case for discriminating, especially if Christians were on the receiving end of the discrimination. This law clearly isn't concerned with protecting religious freedom for ALL religions, just the "right" ones.

[PennySycamore]

I like how Audra McDonald likened this to Jim Crow laws.

Audra has an upcoming concert scheduled for Indianapolis. She looked into canceling the concert and found out that it was too complicated and, moreover, that people would be hurt of she did so. So she's decided to do the concert as scheduled and donate the profits to HRC and other LGBT groups like Freedom Indiana.

[SnazzyNazzy]

Sometimes, I just love being a Hoosier. /end sarcasm.

We all aren't close-minded, hateful people (by all I mean me). Almost everyone I know, or related to, are mortified and outraged, that this law passed.

Personally, I don't think that this law is just for LGBT people, and need to include Muslims, Jews, and other assorted groups into the mix.

[mirele]

Salesforce.com is huge. I work for a Fortune 500 company and we use a number of Salesforce tools in our environment. I appreciate that the CEO went all in on this. He's catching some hell on Twitter.

[Black Aliss]

Ok deny Christians services see what happens

I can hardly wait for the first Muslim-owned business to refuse service to any woman whose hair isn't covered. :popcorn2:

[ADoyle90815]

For me, avoiding Indiana is easy since the cousin who lives there is married to an asshole who doesn't want her to have anything to do with her family. The only other relative who didn't leave that state was an aunt who died a couple of years ago from adrenal cancer which was surprising since everyone thought she would die from lung cancer or other disease caused by smoking as she was seriously addicted to nicotine.

[Peas n carrots]

Slightly off topic: (I was born in Indiana. I currently live about 40 miles from Indiana). My grandfather - long deceased now - was known for complaining vociferously about how high Indiana taxes were.

No joke - Indiana once had a license plate, Indiana, land of taxes. Seriously.

I guess the advertising you are mentioning maybe refers to city/local taxes being less than Chicago's. I don't think it could be Indiana's state taxes being less than Illinois'.

I've heard property taxes are generally cheaper and the it is less expensive to operate businesses there, but I'd be interested in seeing hard numbers on that. If it was so much less expensive you would think you would see a much larger migration across state lines.

[Childless]

As someone who currently resides in Indiana (but plans to leave as soon as I possibly can), I'm ashamed. This bill is horrible and I hope Indiana pays a heavy economic price for their bigotry.

[thoughtful]

Pence signed the bill during a private ceremony in his Statehouse office just before 10 a.m. Thursday. He was joined by supportive lawmakers, Franciscan monks and nuns, orthodox Jews, and some of the state's most powerful lobbyists on conservative social issues.

The event was closed to the public and the press.. . .

Sneaky son of a bitch.