Indiana’s Religious Freedom Bill

And now, news from the parallel universe we have all just entered where Arkansas does something right: Governor Asa Hutchinson has announced that he will not sign the controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) unless some serious changes are made.

It’s been a looooong week for Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and his fellow Republican lawmakers.

What started out as an effort to undo decades of advancements in the gay rights movement has, one week later, turned into the state enacting protections based on sexual orientation for the first time in its history, even though Gov. Pence said on Tuesday that protecting LGBT Indianans was “not on his agenda.”
What a different a few days makes, huh?

Republicans in the Hoosier State went back to the drawing board this week to overhaul their “religious freedom” bill signed into law eight days ago. They added a follow-up measure prohibiting businesses from using the law as an excuse for refusing “to offer or provide services, facilities, use of public accommodations, goods, employment, or housing” to any customers based on “race, color, religion, ancestry, age, national origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or United States military service.”

Sweet Cakes By Melissa is the Oregon bakery whose owners refused to bake a same-sex couple's wedding cake. The couple took the owners to court and won the case. Oregon is one of the states that provides civil rights protections for gay folks. The judge in the case has proposed a settlement of $135K. So, a GoFundMe account was set up to help raise the funds. However, now GoFundMe has cancelled the account.

The good news---Mike Pence was once one of the Teapublican Golden Boys being groomed for national office---now he is an example of being beyond his level of competence in his position as a state governor.

In the Sweet Cakes by Melissa anti-gay discrimination case, the final verdict has been handed down, and conservatives are apoplectic.

Aaron and Melissa Klein are right-wing martyrs held up by anti-gay groups and individuals as victims who supposedly lost their business and went bankrupt merely for observing their Christian faith.

In reality, they are the owners of the very much still in business Sweet Cakes by Melissa, an Oregon-based bakery that refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, in violation of that state's nondiscrimination ordinance. Why? Because they refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, and that's against the law.

By now, many people know that in 2013, Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowman – now the Bowman-Cryers – tried to order a wedding cake from the Kleins. Aaron Klein, Melissa's husband, refused, citing his religious beliefs.

Every time I think Oz is fucked up, I just look to the U.S, and be thankful we're not that retarded.

Every time I think Oz is fucked up, I just look to the U.S, and be thankful we're not that retarded.

The good news---Mike Pence was once one of the Teapublican Golden Boys being groomed for national office---now he is an example of being beyond his level of competence in his position as a state governor.

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