One particularly effective way to get a repeal of this disgusting law pronto would be to remind religulous christyrannical Republicans that the law fosters the establishment of Sharia law.
Some Wahabbi imam or better yet, a Nation of Islam imam from Chicago, should go on TV to announce that he was was going to encourage his entire flock to move to Indiana specifically because of the law. Also, it might be discreetly suggested that “no-go” zones would be established.
Pence says leave it up to the states. So you can continue unfettered racism just like in the early part of the 20th century right Mikey… When it comes to equal protection under the law the constitution is superior to any bullshit you can dream up.
He “really believes that our soldiers at the tip of the spear know that” it’s not time to protect soldiers who are gay from discrimination. Curious choice of words sounds. Sounds like a bit of Freudian slippage from Governor Pensive.
Someone/Anyone HELP ME!!! I live in Indianapolis. These idiots are drowning us!
The Indianapolis Star just offered Pence the life line he needs to fix this in an editorial:
"We are at a critical moment in Indiana’s history.
And much is at stake.
Our image. Our reputation as a state that embraces people of diverse backgrounds and makes them feel welcome. And our efforts over many years to retool our economy, to attract talented workers and thriving businesses, and to improve the quality of life for millions of Hoosiers.
All of this is at risk because of a new law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, that no matter its original intent already has done enormous harm to our state and potentially our economic future.
The consequences will only get worse if our state leaders delay in fixing the deep mess created.
Half steps will not be enough. Half steps will not undo the damage.
Only bold action — action that sends an unmistakable message to the world that our state will not tolerate discrimination against any of its citizens — will be enough to reverse the damage.
Gov. Mike Pence and the General Assembly need to enact a state law to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, education and public accommodations on the basis of a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Those protections and RFRA can co-exist. They do elsewhere.
Laws protecting sexual orientation and gender identity are not foreign to Indiana.
Indianapolis, for example, has had those legal protections in place for nearly a decade. Indy’s law applies to businesses with more than six employees, and exempts religious organizations and non-profit groups.
The city’s human rights ordinance provides strong legal protection — and peace of mind —for LGBT citizens; yet, it has not placed an undue burden on businesses.
Importantly, passage of a state human rights law would send a clear message that Indiana will not tolerate discrimination. It’s crucial for that message to be communicated widely.
On a practical level, by basing the state law on a 10-year-old ordinance, the General Assembly could move quickly to adopt the measure without fear of unintended consequences. If lawmakers can’t act in the next month, the governor should call a special session immediately after the regular session ends in April to take up human rights legislation.
Why not simply repeal RFRA? First, it appears to be politically unacceptable for the governor and many Republican lawmakers.
Second, there are Hoosiers who support RFRA out of a genuine desire to protect religious freedom. To safeguard that essential freedom, 19 states and the federal government have adopted RFRA laws, largely without controversy. But states like Illinois not only protect religious freedom through RFRA but also provide gay and lesbian residents with protected legal status.
Third, repeal might get rid of the heat but it would not do what is most important – to move the state forward.
We urge Gov. Pence and lawmakers to stop clinging to arguments about whether RFRA really does what critics fear; to stop clinging to ideology or personal preferences; to focus instead on fixing this.
Governor, Indiana is in a state of crisis. It is worse than you seem to understand.
You must act with courage and wisdom. You must lead us forward now. You must ensure that all Hoosiers have strong protections against discrimination.
The laws can co-exist. And so can we."
#WeAreIndiana: Join the hashtag, the social movement. We encourage Hoosiers of all types — business leaders and owners, thought leaders, organizations, everyday people — to spread the message of who we are and what we want the world to know: Indiana embraces everyone and we do not discriminate.
Pence has stubbed his toes badly, esp on ABC yesterday morning. He has revealed himself as he really is: a far-right-wing-nut who is very comfortable pandering to the teabaggers. unfortunately, we in Indiana are saddled with this putz for the foreseeable future, and have this awful statute to hound us long into the future. The fact that this bozo couldn’t honestly answer Stephanopolos’ question on 5-6 chances, because he KNEW the right answer would force him to show his ass to the world. Damned glad i didn’t vote for this asshat!
That’s because they have demonized the LGBT community within their own ranks so effectively that they have basically made LGBT people the spawn of the devil and evil incarnate. You see it all the time on message boards where rabid rightwing “Christians” claim that being gay is evil and must be defeated at all costs.
Joke’s on them though. The majority of Americans don’t buy that argument.
This law is not created by people that are pro Gay marriage or concerned with equal rights.
The best thing that the religious could do for everybody, is to keep their religious bias to themselves.
“He said that repealing the act would be using the American military “as a backdrop for social experimentation.””
There’s no doubt that the Southern segregationists said the same goddamn thing when Truman issued his Executive Order to desegregate the U.S. armed forces.
If this happened, the dumbfuck Republicans in the Indiana legislature would be so frantic to rescind the law that they’d all suffer serious spine and neck whiplash.
Anyone that aligns themselves with the FRC is a hateful bigot. Indiana voted for this cretin and now
they are reaping their actions.
Amen. Though a fair number of Republicans have been touting him for some time, based on instances of leadership like this in 2011 (text and video):
And remember, this wasn’t just the first shutdown threat, this was the debt-ceiling threat. He’s always been an ugly, hard-right bigot, a guy who almost makes Ted Cruz look charming. (Really, catch him in the video; hateful, scary dude.) The best thing about this episode is that it’s killed his presidential hopes forever (knock wood…).
light of day
For some reason, I read that “feet of clay”.
To be fair, Mike Pence is a well known idiot.
The most amusing part is that he would not answer if it allows discrimination potentially and that he did not care to give any sort of protections to those it might. Or to clarify that the law cannot discriminate against them. The guy is pretty nuts though.
Besides the lost jobs, lost tourism dollars, lost conferences, and major embarrassment Pence is heaping on my state, how much does it cost to pass a bill, any bill? $5M, $10M, $20M at the state level? Figure all of the legislator’s time, salary, benefits, committee time, debate time, etc. It’s astronomical how expensive this garbage is to fix a non-problem. How very conservative and fiscally responsible of you Gov Pence. Now please step down Mike. You’ve done enough damage so leave it to someone smarter than you to fix this disaster.
There it is!
No, this is a shocker. Pence is buck-and-winging it as usual, repeating his Sunday talk show performance on Fox and Friends Tuesday and putting up an op-ed behind the WSJ pay wall.
