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News: Indiana governor signs potential anti-gay bill, gets dragged
Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 10,242
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Indiana governor signs potential anti-gay bill, gets dragged
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Washington (CNN): Indiana Gov. Mike Pence's decision to sign into law a measure that could allow businesses to turn away gay and lesbian customers in the name of "religious freedom" has left the NCAA fretting ahead of next week's men's basketball Final Four in Indianapolis.
"We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees," NCAA President Mark Emmert said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
He said the NCAA will "work diligently" to ensure competitors and visitors at next week's Final Four are not "negatively impacted by this bill." Emmert also said the organization, which is based in Indianapolis, will "closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce."
Indiana is the first state this year to enact a measure that's being pushed in a dozen others, and Emmert's comments were just the latest in a series of stinging criticisms issued after Pence signed the bill in a private ceremony with Republican state legislators and socially conservative lobbyists Thursday morning.
Already, the gamer convention Gen Con and the Disciples of Christ church group had threatened to pull their conventions out of Indianapolis. Tech giant Salesforce said it would halt its plans to expand in the state, too.
The NCAA had hinted for days that the bill -- which has the effect of allowing businesses to challenge local laws that forbid discriminating against customers based on sexual orientation in court -- could damage the city's reputation as a host of major sporting events.
Jason Collins, who last year became the first openly gay active NBA player, asked Pence in a tweet whether it is "going to be legal for someone to discriminate against me & others when we come" to the Final Four.
Still, Pence signed the bill in his office Thursday. In a statement explaining his decision, he pointed to President Barack Obama's health care law -- which triggered a lawsuit by Hobby Lobby to ensure the company wasn't required to cover birth control through its employees' health insurance plans.
"The Constitution of the United States and the Indiana Constitution both provide strong recognition of the freedom of religion but today, many people of faith feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action," Pence said.
The move comes as Pence considers a bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination -- and just a year after Pence and socially conservative lawmakers lost their first policy battle against gay Hoosiers. In 2014 they had sought to amend Indiana's constitution to ban same-sex marriages -- but were beaten back by a highly-organized coalition of Democrats, traditionally right-leaning business organizations and fiscally focused supporters of Pence's predecessor, former GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels.
This year, though, the Republican-dominated state House and Senate both approved the "religious freedom" bill -- in part because it didn't receive the kind of public attention the gay marriage ban had drawn until it was already close to landing on Pence's desk.
Pence said in an interview with the WIBC radio station in Indianapolis on Thursday that the new law became controversial "because of the way some in the media have reported this."
Without referencing gay rights directly, he insisted that "this is not about any contemporary issue."
"This was a measure that frankly, Indiana should have enacted many years ago," Pence said. "It gives our courts guidance about evaluating government action and puts the highest standard -- it essentially says, if a government is going to compel you to act in a way that violates your religious beliefs, there has to be a compelling state interest."
Indiana doesn't currently have a law on the books protecting Hoosiers from discrimination based on sexual orientation. But a dozen counties do -- and opponents of the "religious freedom" law have said they're worried the new measure will be used to allow businesses to get around those local rules.
"The way the media has covered this in certain quarters -- I understand the concern that people feel," Pence told WIBC, pointing to the early-1990s congressional adoption of a federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Pence tried to downplay the law's impact Thursday, but his allies who pushed it in the legislature -- led by Eric Miller, the head of Advance America and a powerful lobbyist on socially conservative issues in Indiana, who stood behind Pence at Thursday's bill signing ceremony -- touted the protections it affords businesses against gays, lesbians and transgender Hoosiers.
On his website, Miller highlighted examples of the law's effect: Christian bakers, florists and photographers won't have to participate in "homosexual marriage," he wrote, while Christian businesses won't be punished for "refusing to allow a man to use the women's restroom."
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 Original Article
Quote:
Washington (CNN): Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is set to sign into law a measure that allows businesses to turn away gay and lesbian customers in the name of "religious freedom."
The move comes as Pence considers a bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination -- and just a year after Pence and socially conservative lawmakers lost their first policy battle against gay Hoosiers. In 2014 they had sought to amend Indiana's constitution to ban same-sex marriages -- but were beaten back by a highly-organized coalition of Democrats, traditionally right-leaning business organizations and fiscally focused supporters of Pence's predecessor, former GOP Gov. Mitch Daniels.
This year, though, the Republican-dominated state House and Senate both approved the "religious freedom" bill, and Pence plans to sign it into law in a private ceremony Thursday, his spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday afternoon.
If Pence decides to mount a dark horse presidential bid -- which looks increasingly unlikely as candidates like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker court the same supporters he would need -- the "religious freedom" bill could give him a boost among GOP primary voters, especially in socially conservative states like Iowa.
But it could also badly damage his prospects in a general election, where polls have shown that voters increasingly oppose policies that discriminate against gays and lesbians.
In a statement, Pence said the bill "is about respecting and reassuring Hoosiers that their religious freedoms are intact. I strongly support the legislation and applaud the members of the General Assembly for their work on this important issue."
Proponents have argued the bill doesn't target gays and lesbians specifically -- but that it does protect businesses that don't support same-sex marriage from having to provide services for those ceremonies.
Other states have passed similar laws. Eighteen others have similar measures on the books, and social conservatives have been re-energized in their push for "religious freedom" laws after the Supreme Court's decision in a health care-related case that allowed Hobby Lobby and other businesses to opt not to provide insurance coverage for contraception.
Also fueling the push: The Supreme Court's expected ruling in June on whether same-sex marriage is constitutionally protected and therefore legal in all 50 states.
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Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/politi...ll-gay-rights/
This is a MESS  I am 150% certain he will sign it into law. And he could be doing this to get the GOP on his side because wants to be president
This will turn Indianapolis into Detroit, since few businesses (especially tech businesses) will actually want anything to do with the state. And it will also impact the state financially as well, but not as much. It's stuff like this that makes people not take Indiana and Indianapolis seriously
My parents have already stated that if he signs it, they will not vote for him ever again. tbh I will never vote for him even if he doesn't sign it, and I'm gonna check if my representatives voted for it. I'm sure they did.
I love my state, but I hate the politicians.
Edit: He signed it. I give this state until the 2016 election to get its **** together. If Pence somehow gets a second term, I'm going to be looking for out-of-state jobs.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 9,929
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Didn't he already? I live here, and it's all over my FB news feed
Shame on ha!
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 12/7/2011
Posts: 27,655
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Indiana is trash, and smells like booty juice.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 59,596
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Can't wait to see Muslims use it to deny Christians. We'll see how it "feels" then.
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Banned
Member Since: 2/6/2012
Posts: 18,398
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Land of the Free 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 9,929
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Quote:
Originally posted by borntodiethisway
Indiana is trash, and smells like booty juice.
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Lol. You think Indiana is like the smelly ghetto Gary, which is next to Chicago, where you live?
Try Carmel, IN, where my family lives. It was voted #1 town to live in in 2012 by Time Money Magazine
Or try Purdue University, one of the best universities in the world
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Member Since: 11/11/2009
Posts: 4,457
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I have the feeling that he probably gets it up the ass from a male escort at least 3 times a week.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 10,242
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Quote:
Originally posted by Walley
I have the feeling that he probably gets it up the ass from a male escort at least 3 times a week.
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ddddddddddd 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 10,242
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Quote:
Originally posted by Blue Jeans
Lol. You think Indiana is like the smelly ghetto Gary, which is next to Chicago, where you live?
Try Carmel, IN, where my family lives. It was voted #1 town to live in in 2012 by Time Money Magazine
Or try Purdue University, one of the best universities in the world
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Clock ha, Hoosier ha
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 9,929
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Quote:
Originally posted by hooky
Clock ha, Hoosier ha |
I'm not a fan of Indiana and do not plan to stay here in the future, but it is a GREAT and comfortable place for living.
I mean really. Some of the nicest areas in America are in Indiana. The education system is very high-quality. People are very nice. The worst part is near Chicago, that's it.
This bill is a joke, but gay marriage is legal here
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 9,929
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Quote:
Originally posted by Walley
I have the feeling that he probably gets it up the ass from a male escort at least 3 times a week.
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closeted case
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Member Since: 9/11/2012
Posts: 5,512
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Leslie Knope aka Queen of Gays would never approve of this !
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Member Since: 9/16/2011
Posts: 50,981
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Quote:
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Other states have passed similar laws. Eighteen others have similar measures on the books, and social conservatives have been re-energized in their push for "religious freedom" laws after the Supreme Court's decision in a health care-related case that allowed Hobby Lobby and other businesses to opt not to provide insurance coverage for contraception.
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This is alarming. I had no idea that many states had laws like this. It's not good. 
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 1,456
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I hate my state.
Quote:
Originally posted by Walley
I have the feeling that he probably gets it up the ass from a male escort at least 3 times a week.
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Member Since: 5/14/2007
Posts: 25,912
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Member Since: 2/16/2010
Posts: 69,775
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I believe ha. 7/11 is the ballad of cenTury after all.
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 3/18/2009
Posts: 35,164
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Quote:
Originally posted by JakeKills
This is alarming. I had no idea that many states had laws like this. It's not good. |
It will obviously be challenged in the courts if he signs it, but yeah, the Hobby Lobby decision does not give me hope for the inevitable Supreme Court decision.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 10,242
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Quote:
Originally posted by MusicTalker
I believe ha. 7/11 is the ballad of cenTury after all.
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Um... wrong thread?
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Member Since: 4/6/2014
Posts: 9,220
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This is literally right next door to me. I hope the govenor of Virginia doesn't pull this crap
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Member Since: 3/5/2014
Posts: 7,746
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The irony of laws like this is that they just hurt the businesses. In what world does it make sense to turn down business from honest-paying customers just because of your religion? You're the one losing out.
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