In caving to corporate and elite pressure to â??fixâ? Indianaâ??s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Gov. Mike Pence and the rest of the stateâ??s laughingstock Republican leadership have ironically bungled into amending it in a way that now makes Indiana the most hostile state in the country to the conscience rights the original law was designed to protect.
The hastily and stupidly crafted amendment they enacted during Holy Week provides that Indianaâ??s RFRA can never be used as a defense in any gay rights or other civil rights proceeding by anyone other than a clergyman, church, or religious institution. Itâ??s in the same vein as a DC City Council proposal that would force religious organizations to hire or provide resources to people who diametrically oppose those organizationsâ?? missions, which hundreds of congressional lawmakers are actively opposing, using Congressâ??s right to decide DC laws. Of course, until the advent of gay marriage there hadnâ??t ever been a single instance in any of the other 31 states with RFRA statutes or equivalent judicial protections using RFRA as a defense in a gay-rights case, much less in a case involving racial or other alleged discrimination.
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