It’s a shame about what’s been happening to the Christians in Indiana ever since the godless homosexuals took over the state.
On Oct. 7, 2014, the gays finally realized their dream of destroying marriage in the Hoosier State.
It was only a matter of time before the gays swapped the torch on the official state flag for a giant flaming penis gripped in a fist. But before heterosexual couples were forced to divorce and all of the children were sent to gay-education camps, a hero stepped up to save Indiana from the homos.
That hero is Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. And with the stroke of a pen, Pence saved Indiana’s “religious liberty” by signing a bill that many say would legalize discrimination in the state.
And for some reason people are losing their shit. Thousands of people protested in Indianapolis. Angie’s List, the company that tells you whether or not the plumbers coming to your house are going to unclog your toilet or strip the copper pipes from your walls, put a hold on expanding their business in the state. Wilco cancelled an upcoming concert. And #BoycottIndiana is trending on Twitter and Facebook. Legislators ultimately passed, and Pence signed, a “fix” to the law that many LGBT advocates say still doesn’t do enough to protect LGBT people from discrimination.
Just what is everyone so mad about?
The gays, of course. But they’re not mad at the gays this time. They’re mad for them. And it’s about damn time.
As many people, including Pence, are pointing out, Indiana isn’t the only state with a so-called religious-freedom law. There’s even a federal one! And nobody is threatening to boycott those states. So what’s the big deal about Indiana?
There isn’t enough room here for a side-by-side comparison of every religious-freedom law in the country, but the language of Indiana’s is clearly intended to allow, say, a florist who doesn’t want to do bouquets for a lesbian wedding to claim that Jesus told her she couldn’t without fear of reprisal.
The original federal law, which Pence incorrectly claims Indiana’s law “mirrors,” was signed by Bill Clinton in 1993 in response to a specific Supreme Court decision that had nothing to do with green-lighting discrimination against LGBT people (that would be the Defense of Marriage Act you’re thinking of).
So-called religious-freedom laws have been popping up in recent years in direct response to LGBT people getting equal rights. So-called Christians think their disapproval of LGBT people should be given protection under the law so that they don’t have to bake cakes for gay weddings.
In Indiana, two men or two women can get married, but they are not protected under the state’s anti-discrimination laws. This presents an opportunity for hateful folks. The so-called religious-freedom law Pence signed is a death rattle of a dying antigay fringe seeking to harm LGBT people when and where they still can — and expecting protection when they do so.
When Gov. Pence claims that, “as governor of Indiana, if I were presented a bill that legalized discrimination against any person or group, I would veto it,” he is either a liar, an idiot or both.
A March 30 IndyStar editorial urged Pence and the legislature to clean up their mess by passing LGBT-inclusive discrimination laws. They, too, seem to think that Pence is ignorant, willfully or not: “Governor, Indiana is in a state of crisis. It is worse than you seem to understand.”
It would be nice to see this giant misstep by Indiana’s right wing move in the direction of making the state more LGBT-friendly. But I’m not holding my breath.