but exposes the State of Indiana as a bigoted bully (if corporations are persons w/religious beliefs then a state government can be an illogical bigot and an unreasonable bully).


>DEFENSE
>
>Social conservatives say that the law would stop the
>government from compelling people to do things they object to
>on religious grounds, like catering or providing flowers for a
>gay wedding.

this is stupid b/c private businesses like florists and caterers already had the 'right' to deny service to any customer for any reason. certain private businesses that provide public accomodations are prohibited from discriminating against customers from certain protected classes like racial minorities. in Indiana gays are not a protected class under the state's anti-discrimination statute. so as far as i know a florist could deny providing service for a gay wedding already w/o this law.

>< Article Excerpt "In any event, most religious freedom[br />>claims have nothing to do with same-sex marriage or
>discrimination. The proposed Indiana RFRA would provide
>valuable guidance to Indiana courts, directing them to balance
>religious freedom against competing interests under the same
>legal standard that applies throughout most of the land. It is
>anything but a "license to discriminate," and it should not be
>mischaracterized or dismissed on that basis.]

duh. the US Constitution already handled that.

let's be for real - the law was passed b/c some anti-gays went to the state legislature whining and crying and the legislature handed them this pacifier to assuage their hurt feewings b/c the gays can get marriage licenses and waaaah waaaah waaaaah.

it's stupid.

and now the state has shot itself in the foot and created all of this drama for no good reason, really. but maybe it won't end up hurting the bottom line - $. a few entities have made some noise about leaving or refusing to do future biz in the state due to this statute. maybe that storm will pass and things will be just fine for Indiana w/this statute on the books.