March 26, 2015

Indiana Just Made It Easier to Discriminate Against Gay People—And Just About Anyone Else

The law Gov. Mike Pence signed Thursday morning allows Indianans to cite their religious beliefs as an excuse for discrimination.

<a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-107872928/stock-photo-antique-frame-isolated-on-white-background.html?src=csl_recent_image-1">robert_s</a>/Shutterstock; <a href=http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-147926381">501room</a>/Shutterstock

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Over loud objections from Indiana business leaders, GOP Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill into law Thursday that protects business owners who refuse service to gay and lesbian customers on religious grounds. Organizers of mass events in Indianapolis, including the NCAA’s Final Four, immediately decried the law as discriminatory, and suggested that the bill might cause the state to lose out on future business.

The law allows Indianans who are sued for discrimination to cite their religious beliefs as a defense. It applies to a broad range of situations. An employer who refused to hire Jewish employees could cite his religious beliefs as a defense against discrimination lawsuits. So could a landlord who refused to rent to Muslims, or a business that refused to serve atheists.

At a news conference that followed the private signing, Pence explaining he signed the bill “because I support the freedom of religion for every Hoosier of every faith…Today, many people of faith feel their religious liberty is under attack by government action.” He cited the University of Notre Dame’s fight to prevent its employees from accessing birth control as an example.

Pence may have signed the bill as a way to better position himself for a run in the 2016 GOP presidential primaries. Last year, facing opposition from Democrats and state business leaders, and intense media scrutiny, Pence and conservative Republicans abandoned a bill that would have banned same-sex marriage in Indiana. But the bill Pence signed Thursday drew much less organized opposition and press.

Pence disputed the idea that this latest bill allowed discrimination. “If I thought it legalized discrimination in any way in Indiana, I would have vetoed it,” he said.

Lawmakers have introduced bills permitting businesses to discriminate against LGBT individuals in almost two dozen states this year. They are part of a wave of anti-LGBT bills that has crested as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on whether same-sex marriage should be legal throughout the county. The decision will likely come down in June.

After Pence signed the bill, Jason Collins, the first openly gay NBA player before he retired last year, sounded off on Twitter:

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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