Indiana and Its Last Crusade

Sometimes, you think that because it’s 2015 and not 1950, the world has changed for the better — it’s more open and less racist, sexist and homophobic.

But other times, you have to take a deep breath, swallow your tears or your anger, and go do some running or boxing to fend off the angry feeling that the world is going backward.

Because sometimes, yes, it does move backward.

Have you seen the Facebook ad for the La Queue de Cheval restaurant that came out this week? It stars a masked woman wearing lace underwear who asks, “How do you like your meat?”

Sometimes you ask yourself how this sort of thing can be legal …. How people can come up with stuff that pathetic.

Sometimes, we ask ourselves how certain laws are drafted and approved, like the ones in Indiana and Arkansas that allow businesses to discriminate against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals.

The excuse? “It’s against my religion.”

This argument in the vast debate about the backward measures religious groups want to impose on modern society is spreading throughout the United States. Religions are harsh toward women, as we know. They’re also harsh toward gays, but we don’t talk about it enough. And that’s the issue here.

In short, here’s the story: Last week, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence decided to sign, and thus make into law, a bill called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Many states already have these kinds of laws. They were originally passed to protect Native American religious practices, but that is clearly not the case here.

The new bill is the polar opposite of Drainville’s values charter. It protects religious freedom by ensuring that no one’s rights will be infringed while they practice their religion and that all beliefs will be respected.

So if you own a business in Indiana and same-sex marriage is against your beliefs, you have the right to say, “No, I don’t agree.”

There is already a restaurant in Walkerton, Indiana which proclaims itself as “deeply Christian,” which told ABC reporters that it would never deliver pizza to a gay wedding. It’s not discrimination according to one of the pizzeria’s owners and family member, Crystal O’Connor, who explained to the U.S. television station, “That’s just our belief and anyone has the right to believe in anything.”

Luckily, not everyone thinks this way.

Martha Hoover, who owns 11 Patachou chain restaurants in greater Indianapolis, was in New York last weekend for Jubilee, a gathering of women working in the restaurant industry. She started her presentation by completely disassociating herself with the law enacted in her state. “It’s disgusting,”* she said. She added that she was incredibly proud of her employees, who agreed not to refuse to serve anyone.

All week, the story grew in importance, while Arkansas, despite all the negative reactions to Indiana, decided to follow suit and pass a similar pro-religion law. It was also signed by its governor, but the business community decided to have its say.

Apple boss Tim Cooke, a proud gay man, first reacted on Twitter about Indiana. He then published a lengthy letter in The Washington Post, in which he stated that protecting discriminators under the pretext of religious beliefs went against the founding principles of the United States. Afterward, the directors of Wal-Mart, which is headquartered in Arkansas, asked the state’s governor to not sign the bill that was put to a vote in Little Rock.

Other companies announced that they would refuse to increase their activities in these states. Some events, such as colloquia, conventions and conferences, were also cancelled in protest. There were also calls for boycotts — bad news for these states’ economies.

In the face of all this pressure, the only thing the governor of Indiana did was try to convince the population that the whole controversy was the media’s fault, which misreported about a well-intentioned religious inclusiveness law, one with anomalies he was correcting …

New York Times columnist Gail Collins was not impressed, calling the governor’s interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC one of the worst in television history. In her Thursday column, she highlighted the part of the interview when the governor explained that the objective of the law was not to legalize discrimination against gays, but to protect businesses that refused to reimburse their female employees for contraception costs as part of their medical insurance program because it went against their religious beliefs. Bravo Mr. Pence; well done!

Sometimes you think that because it’s 2015, people are more open, more modern. But not in Indiana, where the RFRA was voted on and passed into law essentially to please the religious right, which is opposed to same-sex marriage and frustrated that the practice is legal in their state.

Let’s hope that this push backward does not happen here. Because frankly, homophobes are sad and weak. Pathetic.

*Editor’s note: This quote, while accurately translated, could not be verified.