The State of Things
The wheels of progress move so slowly
some days. The wheels have begun to go in reverse today.
Last year my state, Indiana, won the
battle for same-sex marriage. It was a battle that was hard won and hard
fought. The Indiana governor fought the vote in court. The case for same-sex
marriage eventually went all the way to Supreme Court of the United States of
America. The Supreme Court of the United States of American ruled that banning
someone from getting married is discriminatory. This meant that same-sex
marriage was now legal in Indiana. That was a glorious day in Indiana history,
in the history of the nation.
.
As I have written here, I am an ally to
the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender community (also known as LGBT.) Last
year I marched as a part of a group of employees from my library system in the
Indianapolis Gay Pride Parade….
I am an ally, an advocate for equality and civil
rights for people of all colors, creeds, beliefs, sexual orientations, genders.
Yet as I say, the wheels of progress are now in reverse. Today the Indiana legislature has passed the
RFRA bill (Religious Freedom Restoration Act) which makes it legal for a
business to discriminate against anyone in the LGBT community. Any business can
now claim that providing a service to someone in the LGBT community would go
against their religious beliefs. And really, this law can be broadened to
discriminate against anyone, of any sexual orientation, any color of skin, gender, for
any reason. Racism and homophobia can now hide behind a banner of religion and
there is no legal recourse.
How will this affect citizens of Indiana?
It already has. A few months ago, a couple went to their local bakery to order
a cake for their upcoming wedding reception. The bakery refused to make the
cake for the couple. The reason the bakery gave: that it would go against their
religious beliefs to bake the couple a cake for their wedding. You see, the
couple that wanted to order a cake was a same-sex couple. Thankfully the couple
got a wedding cake made from another bakery, one that is in the business of baking
cakes, not judging people for living their lives.
But the discrimination doesn’t end there.
Under the new law….
· Children
and child care could roll back protections for children at child care
ministries, including the requirement that anyone who interacts with a child
must pass a state background check
· The
law could be used to ignore laws in more than 12 Indiana municipalities,
including Indianapolis, protecting LGBT people from discrimination
· The
law could allow an abuser to claim domestic violence laws don’t apply to them
because they have a religious belief that they have the right to discipline
their spouse and children as they see fit
· The
law could allow a police officer to defend a mosque or synagogue by saying it
goes against their religious beliefs
*source: http://freedomindiana.org/facts/
This law will produce those effects and
more. Someone could be denied treatment at a hospital because it would
be against their doctor’s religion. A person could be denied service in a
restaurant because serving them would be against the owner’s religion. The
lists of “reasons” can be specious and biased and would snowball from there.
However, there are more than just
personal ramifications to this law; there are economic ones as well. Two days
ago George Takei, the actor who played “Sulu” on Star Trek, an LGBT rights
activist, wrote an eloquent appeal to the governor of Indiana, Mike Pence, to
not sign the bill into law…
To the governor and to the legislators in Indiana who
support this backward-looking and divisive bill, I say to you this: If it goes
into effect, Indiana will be marked as a state where certain people are not
welcome, and so we will not visit. We will not spend. And we will not attend
events, including GenCon, the world’s largest gaming convention, held in
Indianapolis each year. Many fans here are gamers, Governor Pence, and we will
demand the convention move out of your state.
The leaders of GenCon were not kidding.
Before the governor signed the bill into law, the leaders of GenCon wrote the
governor and said they would pull the convention from Indiana. That one event
brings $50 million to our local economy.
*source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/25/gen-con-indiana-religious-freedom-bill_n_6936698.html
$4 billion yearly profit, tweeted today:
“Today we are
canceling all programs that require our customers/employees to travel to
Indiana to face discrimination.”
*source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/politics/mike-pence-religious-freedom-bill-gay-rights/index.html
Before the bill was signed into law,
Jason Collins, the first openly gay player in the National Basketball
Association, tweeted about this law….
"...is it going to be legal for someone to
discriminate against me & others when we come to the Final Four?"
The Disciples of Christ are considering
pulling their national week long convention from Indiana…
Actions have consequences. This is just
the start of the backlash and boycotts.
I want to go back for a
moment, to another part of George Takei’s statement:
The Governor of Indiana has indicated that he will
sign SB101—a law that allows businesses to discriminate against customers based
on the proprietors’ religious beliefs. This bill is
strikingly similar to one proposed—and vetoed due to public outcry—in Arizona.
Such laws harken back to a time where our society was divided, and people of
color were banned from white establishments.
Mr. Takei is referring to the times of
the Jim Crow laws. In the not so distant past, in parts of America, public places were segregated. Schools, businesses, theaters,
hospitals, restaurants, bakeries, buses, every public place was segregated.
This is what America looked like when the Jim Crow laws were legal....
This new law in Indiana has been dubbed a
religious Jim Crow law. I would not have thought to put those two entities
together, “religion” and “Jim Crow laws”; however, that is exactly what this
law is. This law enables legal, widespread discrimination. Perhaps, if this law stays on the books, we might see an America that looks like this:
I pray this law is
overturned in the courts as soon as possible on the grounds that it is
unconstitutional because it denies citizens their civil rights. I pray that we
do not have such a struggle again to ensure equal rights.
You might be sitting there, reading this
blog entry, asking yourself, “Why is she so upset over this? Why does she care?
This law doesn’t affect her.” This law does affect me. It affects everyone who
lives in the state, and everyone that would come to visit the state. This law
is not only aimed at the LGBT community, it is aimed at everyone.
This law more than affects me, this law
offends me. I was not born in Indiana but I have lived here all my life. I have
a stake in this now. In addition to being a concerned citizen, I am a business
owner. I founded my own publishing company, La Luna Press, L.L.C., in 2013. I
now have the right to discriminate against anyone I so choose, as long as I
claim that providing a business is against my religious beliefs. I would never
do such a thing, but that is now my legal right as a business owner. For any
business, for anyone to have that power is wrong.
When this law was being considered, a
motion was proposed to have business that are in favor of this law post a sign
or placard in their windows, to let prospective customers know that the
business discriminates. The proposal was immediately voted down. My question to
that is, “Why? If you want to discriminate and deny people service, why not
share it proudly?” If I’m coming in to your shop, and you are going to
discriminate against me, for whatever reason you chose, I would appreciate
knowing that. I can spend my money elsewhere.
Thankfully there is a service for
consumers who want to find out which stores and businesses do not discriminate. The service is
called Open for Service and is currently assembling a list of businesses. I say
they are assembling the list because in the last few days, the list of business
joining the service has quadrupled in size. As a business owner, I registered
my business with Open for Service. As a consumer, I will consult the list to
know where to spend my money. If you are a business owner, you can register
your business for $10. Upon registering you will receive a sticker to let
prospective customers know you do not discriminate. Click here to register and
to find out more information:
I received my sticker last night. I do
not have a store front, I do not have a window to display the sticker. But it is
going on my website. It is official. My business is open for service.
It is a dark day
for Indiana. But please be aware that this is not a concept all to Indiana. There
are 18 other states that have similar laws still on the books.
My governor does
not speak for my state, and he does not speak for me. I pray that this law gets
overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court, by the U.S. Supreme Court. To deny
service to anyone for any reason is discriminatory and unconstitutional. It’s a
sad affair, the current state of things.
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