Culture

Pretty Much Everyone Is Furious At Indiana For Passing A Law That Discriminates Against Gay People

The spirit of Pawnee this ain't.

by Alex McKinnon  2 April 2015

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The US has been edging ahead of Australia in terms of marriage equality rights for a little while now, but a new furore brewing in the States highlights how substandard legal protections for LGBT people outside the marriage debate can be. Earlier this week Indiana Governor Mike Pence signed into law the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allows for-profit businesses (as opposed to non-profit organisations like churches) to discriminate in who they serve based on their right to the “free exercise of religion”.

Put plainly, it gives businesses the right to refuse service to anyone their religious beliefs conflict with — gay people, for instance — and some places are already putting the law into practice. Already, an Indiana pizzeria has made headlines (and attracted derision) for vowing never to deliver pizza to a same-sex wedding ceremony.

The backlash against Pence and Indiana has been swift and immense, with everyone from Yelp to eBay to Twitter to high-profile basketball coaches to NASCAR calling on Indiana to repeal the law, while others are threatening to boycott Indiana businesses. Husband-and-wife duo and Parks and Recreation stars Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally cancelled the Indiana stop of their comedy tour in protest, as did Illinois-based band Wilco. Indiana native David Letterman devoted a solid portion of his latest show to mocking Pence and criticising the law, saying “This is not the Indiana I remember as a kid”.

In response, legislators have been scrambling to amend the law to provide for protections from discrimination based on sexuality, a final version of which will likely be presented to Governor Pence next week. The Act’s defenders are finding themselves more and more isolated — a similar bill in Arkansas has been put on hold by Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson and sent back to lawmakers to remove any provisions that could likewise lead to explicit anti-LGBT discrimination.

For those who have thrown themselves into ensuring the law stands, the law is less about ensuring equal rights and more about protecting Christian businesses from the malicious influence of homosexual supremacy, or “Big Gay” — a newly-coined term that’s done wonders for an LGBT-themed ice creamery in New York. Seriously.

Meanwhile, some hero has taken advantage of the law by starting a “religion” called the First Church of Cannabis Inc., which lists marijuana as a Sacrament and may be allowed to let its adherents smoke weed under the law’s protections against a government from “substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion.” That, perhaps, is one example of religious freedom Indiana native Ron Swanson could get behind.