Last week, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law.
Under the law, businesses are able to cite their religious freedom as a legal defense for if they get sued for discrimination.
The law also states that the government cannot “substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion” and if a proprietor feels that his or her religious beliefs have been burdened he or she can cite the law to fend off lawsuits.
Since the signing of the bill, people have raised concerns over whether or not the bill allows businesses to discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Some worry that business owners may refuse service to people based on their sexual orientation and cite the law as a way to justify that discrimination.
Pence, due to the backlash of the RFRA, is now working to re-word the bill to bar discrimination.
While the governor stated that he did not intend the law to cause such backlash, I share the concern with many others, that as it stands right now, the RFRA has opened its doors to allow discrimination.
Indiana is not the only state with a law like this on its books. Nineteen states have religious freedom laws modeled after the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act from 1993.
Any private business may reserve the right to refuse service under this law. It might make it easier for businesses to get away with discrimination if sued.
Arkansas, following Indiana’s lead, passed its own religious freedom act on Tuesday, March 31.
Most of the states that passed religious freedom laws did so before gay marriage became legal in their states. For a bill that is not supposed to be discriminatory it sure seems as if state legislators are using the bill to do just that.