PUBLIC PRESSURE WORKS: THE CRUCIAL LESSON IN MIKE PENCE’S CALL FOR A RELIGIOUS FREEDOM “

PUBLIC PRESSURE WORKS: THE CRUCIAL LESSON IN MIKE PENCE’S CALL FOR A RELIGIOUS FREEDOM “FIX”  It remains to be seen what Pence’s changes will look like, but activists have already won a major victory“Appearing subdued and exuding an air of contrition, Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s Tuesday press conference on Indiana’s anti-gay “religious freedom” law was a stark contrast to his appearance on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on Sunday, when Pence defiantly defended the law, even as he repeatedly refused to say whether he thinks discrimination against gay people should be legal. Now, Pence is calling for a “fix” to the law, maintaining that it does not provide a license to discriminate and avowing that he personally “abhors” anti-gay discrimination.“I don’t believe for a minute that it was the intension of the General Assembly to provide a right to discriminate,” Pence said. “But I can appreciate that that’s become the perception not just here in Indiana but across this country.”How ever could that have happened? Well, the language of the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act is quite clear: “A person whose exercise of religion has been substantially burdened, or is likely to be substantially burdened, by a violation of this chapter may assert the violation or impending violation as a claim or defense in a judicial or administrative proceeding, regardless of whether the state or any other governmental entity is a party to the proceeding,” the statute reads. Sure, the law does not explicitly state that business owners are free to put up a “no gays allowed” sign, but it provides a compelling legal defense for businesses and individuals who deny services to LGBT people on religious grounds.Amid a social conservative backlash against marriage equality and the increased visibility of LGBT people, conservative lawmakers have introduced similar measures throughout the country, often flat-out admitting that the purpose is to target the LGBT population. Pence has not been as forthcoming, but the purpose of the law was clear. Look no further than the people who stood behind Pence as he signed the legislation. They included American Family Association of Indiana head Micah Clark, a promoter of “ex-gay” therapy; conservative lobbyist Eric Miller, who calls the fight against LGBT equality “the greatest moral battle of this generation”; and Indiana Family Institute president Curt Smith, who once charged that gay people have no “life beyond absorption with narcissistic sex.” Smith helped draft the bill, by the way.While the outcry was actually quite predictable, its scale was not. Concerts and comedy shows were cancelled. A union conference was called off. Angie’s List halted its corporate expansion in the Hoosier State. Calls mounted for a boycott of the upcoming NCAA tournament in Indianapolis. The governors of Connecticut and Washington banned state-funded travel to Indiana. Business-minded Republicans bucked their party’s social conservatives, decrying the law’s economic repercussions.Without all of this, there’s no way that Pence would seek to clarify the statute. Without the furor of LGBT people and their allies, there’s no way that Pence — a longstanding opponent of gay rights — would have felt any need to tell the media that he loathes discrimination against LGBT people. (That’s news to the couples whose marriages he would deny, to gay soldiers seeking to serve openly, and to workers who want federal protections against employment discrimination — all of whom Pence has worked to keep second-class citizens.)Indiana’s lesson, then, is that protest still works. Granted, it’s easier to effect change when you’ve got powerful business interests on your side; there’s a reason public outcry didn’t derail financial deregulation in last year’s spending bill, for instance. But for those who doubted the relevance of activism and public pressure, Indiana is your answer.”Read the full piece hereKEEP UP THE PRESSURE EVERYBODY! THESE HATE LAWS NEED TO BE DESTROYED SO THOROUGHLY THAT OTHER POLITICOS GET THE MESSAGE AND BACK THE F*CK OFF OR BE SHOWN THE DOOR.If you are of voting age and didn’t vote in 2014: you need to recognize how you helped pave the way for these laws, and I’m NOT exaggerating or trying to guilt trip, I’m trying to wake people up.When progressives don’t vote, “conservatives” win, and REAL PEOPLE suffer.When conservatives win like they did in the U.S. in 2014:- Anti-abortion laws lead to women DYING: Republicans Are Killing Women: US Maternal Death Rate Climbs; Female Deaths Rise In GOP Counties - Anti-LGBT laws crop up like f’ing WILDFIRE: Anti-LGBT Bills Introduced in 28 StatesRegister to vote here: http:/www.vote411.org -- source link
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