Turns out the fantasies of the religious right, as exemplified in the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, do not mesh with the sensibilities of business:
Since the year after its 1995 founding, Angie’s List has been headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The $315 million corporation which lets users review local businesses, especially home improvement professionals, has been planning a $40 million renovation of its own, moving its headquarters across town and adding 1000 new jobs over five years.
But thanks to state lawmakers and Republican Governor Mike Pence‘s new Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, those expansion plans have been canceled.
“Angie’s List is open to all and discriminates against none and we are hugely disappointed in what this bill represents,” CEO Bill Oesterle said in a statement today, adding, the expansion is “on hold until we fully understand the implications of the freedom restoration act on our employees, both current and future.”
The NBA and the Indiana Pacers:
“The game of basketball is grounded in long established principles of inclusion and mutual respect. We will continue to ensure that all fans, players and employees feel welcome at all NBA and WNBA events in Indiana and elsewhere.”
Additionally, Pacers owner Herb Simon stated:
“The Indiana Pacers, Indiana Fever and Bankers Life Fieldhouse have the strongest possible commitment to inclusion and non-discrimination on any basis. Everyone is always welcome at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. That has always been the policy from the very beginning of the Simon family’s involvement and it always will be.”
The liberal Huffington Post summarizes the bill thusly:
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) quietly signed legislation Thursday that could legalize discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act would allow any individual or corporation to cite its religious beliefs as a defense when sued by a private party. But many opponents of the bill, which included business leaders, argued that it could open the door to widespread discrimination. Business owners who don’t want to serve same-sex couples, for example, could now have legal protections to discriminate.
JOHN MCCORMACK over at The Weekly Standard, a conservative publication, defends it:
Is the Religious Freedom Restoration Act really a license to discriminate against gay people?
No. Stanford law professor Michael McConnell, a former appellate court judge, tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD in an email: “In the decades that states have had RFRA statutes, no business has been given the right to discriminate against gay customers, or anyone else.”
The Human Rights Campaign reports Arkansas may do the same thing:
Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and HRC Arkansas condemned the Arkansas senate’s passage of H.B. 1228, an Indiana-style bill that will open the door to discrimination against LGBT people, people of color, religious minorities, women and other minority groups across the state. After a formal procedural hurdle, the bill will be on its way to Governor Asa Hutchinson’s desk. HRC has repeatedly called on the governor to veto this legislation, including at a press conference featuring HRC president Chad Griffin yesterday.
Salesforce’s CEO cancels events in Indiana over concerns:
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff says he doesn’t want his employees subjected to discrimination as part of their work for the San Francisco-based company, and he is cancelling all required travel to the state of Indiana following the signing of a religious freedom law that some say allows business
to exclude gay customers.
Here’s what’s what: in business land, talent is all important, and talent doesn’t pass over the LGBT community. Historically, it is often the outcast, whether it’s because of sexual or religious sensibilities, who is the most innovative, the most driven to succeed.
But the religious community doesn’t thrive on innovation. The religious community values the orthodox, the community members who know their roles and fills them. In a community where the roles have evolved into a good balance, this can result in a stability that lasts for centuries and benefits its members. But for the oddball who sees the world a little differently, who may not give credence to a more outre’ religious precept, or has urges at odds with a rule of the sect, this can be a problem that makes both member and community uncomfortable, angry, or even murderous. The outcast brings nothing of obvious value to the community, so there’s no motivation to reconsider the rule, arbitrary as it may objectively seem; not even an exception granted, even if it impacts a central family. In this way, new sects are created and old ones slowly fade away.
But in the business world, “fade away” is what JC Penney and Sears are doing, right in front of everyone. The LGBT’s most effective defenders may not be those putatively devoted to it, but instead those who benefit the most from the talents of LGBT members: Big Business.
(h/t Libby Summers Boucher)
