The changes proposed by state lawmakers to Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) would erode the freedom of conscience for most small business owners in the state and would mark the largest step towards special gay rights there in history, according to pro-family activists who have studied the language.
“Nothing in this law would enable a small business to refuse to offer or provide services, facilities, use of a public accommodation, goods, etc.,” said Americans for Truth About Homosexuality President Peter LaBarbera, reading in part from the proposed changes.
“It looks like it would preclude a small business owner from using the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” he said.
LaBarbera says the changes gut protections for Indiana residents of all faiths and he is joining a “chorus” of activists urging Gov. Mike Pence to veto the changes.
“This language is unacceptable. It actually reverses the progress of the religious freedom law. I think Gov. Pence needs to veto this language if it comes forth, and he needs to stand strong,” said LaBarbera. “No law would be better than eviscerating this religious freedom bill as it was with the new language.”
The Indiana chapter of the American Family Association is also urging a Pence veto.
“The actions taken by the Indiana General Assembly do not clarify our Religious Freedom Restoration Act’s purposes or goals. Our legal advisors tell us that it actually changes our law in a way that could now erode religious freedom across Indiana. If this revised law does not adequately protect religious liberty for all, it is not really a religious freedom act,” said AFA of Indiana Executive Director Micah Clark in a statement.
The scenario most often referred to in this debate centers on vendors of deep faith who welcome all customers into their businesses but don’t feel comfortable servicing a same-sex wedding. LaBarbera says those people may have no recourse if the proposed changes become law.
“Let’s take the example of the wedding cake baker. They have a wedding cake. They sell wedding cakes to everybody, including homosexuals, but they don’t want to make, create or use their talents to create a gay marriage wedding cake. So if someone comes in and says, ‘I would like a gay marriage wedding cake, according to this language they would not be able to dent that service,” said LaBarbera.
“That’s the exact opposite of religious freedom, which is why pro-family activists are urging a veto of this new language,” he said, noting there would still be protections for houses of worship and non-profit organizations.
Thursday, legislative leaders in Indiana stressed that nothing in the proposed changes extends special protected class status to homosexuals, but LaBarbera says it comes pretty close.
This would be the largest step Indiana ever took towards gay rights. Effectively, you’re saying nobody can be denied any good or service. Well, if someone comes up and wants a pro-homosexual or pro-abortion message, and the person does business with the entire public, he could not refuse that,” said LaBarbera.
While LaBarbera brings a Christian worldview to the debate, he says the protections at stake are for the benefit of everyone.
“This is the equivalent of asking a Jewish guy to make a cake for (former Ku Klux Klan official) David Duke, right? You would never expect a Jewish photographer, for example, to have to take pictures at a Ku Klux Klan rally or a neo-Nazi rally. You should not expect people of faith to endorse a pro-homosexual marriage if they believe that homosexual marriage is sinful,” said LaBarbera.
Critics of the original Indiana law liken the right of business owners to refuse to endorse messages contrary to their faith to the fight to enact civil rights legislation and integrate the public square. LaBarbera says it’s an apples and oranges comparison.
“Homosexuals are not being denied service in the way that blacks were denied service, you can’t eat at the lunch counter, etc. That’s unreasonable to most people, but what people do find reasonable is that a person should not have to create a message, which violates his belief,” said LaBarbera.
LaBarbera says a great deal of the blame for the hysteria in Indiana belongs at the feet of the news media, which he says are not even pretending to cover this story objectively.
“This is a media-generated crisis, the media working with gay activists. The mainstream media has become part of the gay lobby almost. An incredible hysteria has been whipped up against Indiana. Gov. Pence needs to stay strong and he must make sure that he doesn’t adopt a pro-homosexual agenda as the compromise, so-called, that would allegedly save this measure,” said LaBarbera.
One of the media’s most well-publicized moments in the past week was to spotlight the owners of Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana. The owners say they’ve never been asked to cater a same-sex wedding but would refuse based on their beliefs. Death and arson threats poured in. Activists hacked the Google page of Memories Pizza and left a litany of foul comments on their Yelp page.
LaBarbera says that type of harassment is not representative of all gay activists, but he says it a consistent practice of a belligerent portion of them.
“There is an element of the gay rights movement which has acted recklessly for decades and tried to intimidate people, sometimes using force. We had it happen at one of our banquets in Illinois. I would hope people would keep the argument civil. There’s no need to get into these extremes,” said LaBarbera.
Both sides of the debate are waiting on Gov. Pence and to see what changes Arkansas lawmakers make to their RFRA bill after Gov. Asa Hutchinson refused to sign it and ordered that it mirror the federal version passed in 1993. LaBarbera hopes Arkansas will now follow the changes proposed in Indiana.
“I hope they don’t back down or do a change that will backfire in Arkansas like apparently they’re almost doing here in Indiana,” said LaBarbera
