New law explicitly denies conscience protections for small business owners; LGBT Lobby not appeased — demands full ENDA-type legislation for Indiana

Appeasement Emboldens ‘Gay’ Lobby: Graphic for homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign demands more pro-homosexual legislation in Indiana following the Republican-led legislature’s and Gov. Mick Pence’s capitulation negating the state’s Religious Freedom law. Click on HRC.org graphic above to enlarge.

By Peter LaBarbera

In a stunning, politically-correct turnaround following a week of LGBT protests and media and business opposition, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence yesterday signed into law a pro-homosexual legislative “fix” of the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)–effectively turning it into Indiana’s first statewide homosexual “rights” law.

The language of the revised RFRA crafted by Indiana’s Republican House and Senate leaders and signed into law by Gov. Pence stipulates that the new RFRA “does not authorize a provider to refuse to offer or provide services, facilities, use of public accommodation, goods, employment, or housing” to any Indiana citizen on the basis of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity”–in addition to the usual criteria such as race, sex and disability. [See the full language HERE.]

When asked specifically at a press conference yesterday if the revised RFRA legislation could be used to defend the besieged owners of an Indiana pizza shop who told a reporter that theoretically they would not serve a homosexual “wedding,” Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma said:

“We can unequivocally say that RFRA cannot be used to discriminate against anyone.”

The law still protects churches and religious, non-profit organizations from being forced to participate in homosexual “weddings”–but not everyday small businessmen like the owners of the Indianapolis cookie stand “Just Cookies.” In 2012, the Christian owners of Just Cookies declined on principle to make “rainbow cookies” for a homosexual student group at Purdue University-Indianapolis. “Gay’ activists led a campaign against the company using Indianapolis’ “sexual orientation” statute; ultimately the owners settled with the city without paying damages. [To read about other conscience victims of the homosexual agenda, see this WND Whistleblower article by the author.]

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence

Our good friend and AFTAH Board Matt Barber just posted the following open letter to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence–concerning proposed changes to the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act–on his excellent website, Barbwire.com. Is it actually possible that we will see a pro-family “religious freedom” law turned into a homosexual “special rights” law in Republican-run Indiana? Let’s pray that this does not happen and that Gov. Pence will not capitulate to the demands of an intolerant Sin Lobby. — Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; @PeterLaBarbera

_____________________________

Dear Governor Pence,

Well, I guess “the fix is in.”

Time is short so I’ll be very direct. This past week or so you’ve experienced the visceral wrath of the organized left, spearheaded by homosexual activist extremists. You’re not used to it. We Christian advocates for religious liberty are. While their bark is loud, shrill and obnoxious, I assure you, it’s much worse than their bite. We are witnessing governance by mob rule. It’s tyranny of the minority and you’re letting it happen.

With all due respect, sir, show some moxie, would you? It wasn’t broken and the alleged “fix” that the Indiana legislature, at your request, has proposed to the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), will destroy the law beyond all recognition. In fact, it will turn it into the “RFDA” – the “Religious Freedom Destruction Act.” No bill at all would have been better than this anti-Christian, sexual anarchist disaster.

What was intended as a shield to every American’s First Amendment-guaranteed religious liberty, as proposed, will now become a sword used to destroy it. What was designed to defend people of faith against being discriminated against and bullied will, instead, codify anti-religious discrimination and bullying into law. It will unconstitutionally force people of faith, under penalty of law, to affirmatively violate their sincerely held religious conscience. It has been turned into a weapon that compels people of faith to disobey God or face government sanction.

This is unacceptable.

As the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer correctly notes, “The revised language has now been released, and it’s even worse than we thought. The new language forces Christian bakers to bake cakes in violation of their faith and conscience. Gov. Pence tried to fix something that wasn’t broken, and he broke it. The ‘cure’ in this case is far worse than the non-existent disease. Gov. Pence must veto this misbegotten piece of legislation.”

Micah Clark

“It also appears that under the changes released today, it may be impossible for a business or individual to even make a claim under RFRA [the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act] of an infringement of their religious liberty in many parts of Indiana.”–Micah Clark, AFA-Indiana

Micah Clark, executive director of American Family Association of Indiana–and a wonderful pro-family advocate who does outstanding work in the Hoosier State–sent the following e-letter to his constituents today–after new proposed language surfaced amending the state’s new religious freedom law:

________________

Friends,

As you know, over the weekend, Governor Mike Pence began discussing a clarification of Indiana Senate Bill 101. This was due to the mass misinformation and fear campaign mobilized against it and against our entire state. He did not ask for a change to a newly enacted statute which has been proven, established and non-controversial language for 22 years.

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.

What is worse, unlike our current law, this new language’s impact is something upon which few attorneys or legal scholars will likely agree.

We have also been advised that it is possible that the proposed changes may no longer protect a company like Hobby Lobby from participation in abortion matters. One of the primary motivations behind SB 101 was to protect the rights of conscience for business owners regarding their beliefs about abortion.

It also appears that under the changes released today, it may be impossible for a business or individual to even make a claim under RFRA of an infringement of their religious liberty in many parts of Indiana.

On the positive side there is some language left which protects Hoosiers from a government action against their religious beliefs.

We understand that legislators have been threatened with significant economic harms and bullied in many ways. We understand that Indiana has been unfairly harmed by blatant lies and a misinformation campaign around something for which RFRA laws have never been successfully used. We do not blame legislators for wanting to protect Indiana from a mob mentality. political opportunism, and mass hysteria.

AFA of Indiana is asking Governor Pence to veto these changes for the above reasons and because they went far beyond what he asked the legislature to do. If you would like to contact the Governor’s office, you can call 317-232-4567.

Thank you, and please continue to pray for this matter, our leaders, and our great state.

Best regards,
Micah Clark
Executive Director

LGBT Activist Mocks the Lord: above is a Tweet sent out just before Christmas by influential Indiana “gay” activist Bil Browning. Secular leftists mock Christians and the Christian faith by referring to Jesus Christ as “Jeebus.” AFTAH President Peter LaBarbera responded on Twitter to Browning’s bigotry. See full Twitter exchange HERE.

“If government can compel a Christian or Orthodox Jewish businessman to participate in a ceremony that attaches sinful homosexuality to “marriage,” then the State can compel ANY American citizen or institution to violate ANY of their cherished beliefs. That is the essence of tyranny.”

By Peter LaBarbera; Twitter: @PeterLaBarbera

Contact: 312-324-3787; americansfortruth@gmail.com

In the wake of a pro-LGBT, media-driven campaign against Indiana’s new Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), Gov. Mike Pence and leaders of the Indiana legislature are backtracking to appease the liberal political mob that has cynically recast the law as the “License to Discriminate.”

Good people everywhere are now intimidated from speaking plain truths about the homosexual-bisexual-transgender agenda. Americans For Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is not. The distortions and media hype attacking Indiana’s religious freedom law are obfuscating some key fundamentals in this debate. It is not the purpose here to dig into the “legaleze” about the law (for that, see this Reason.com piece) but rather to expose the core hypocrisy of pro-LGBT progressives on “discrimination.”

Homosexual activists and their sycophants in the media (e.g., CNN’s homosexual anchor/activist Don Lemon) are cunningly building upon their distortions of the RFRA to demand a pro-homosexual special-rights law in the Hoosier State.

It would be the cruelest of ironies if the media-driven backlash against Indiana’s religious freedom law were used to push through a statewide “gay rights” law in Indiana. Such pro-homosexual laws and corporate policies have been the engine driving PRO-LGBT DISCRIMINATION against people of faith for decades—all in the sweet-sounding name of “equality.” For example, the “gay” movement’s bullying of the Boy Scouts of America began with a lawsuit that relied upon New Jersey’s pro-homosexual “sexual orientation” law.

The pro-family movement has long referred to so-called nondiscrimination laws based on “sexual orientation” and ”gender identity” as “special rights” because genuine civil rights are not based on disordered, immoral sexual behavior and gender confusion. These Orwellian laws and corporate policies actually foment discrimination in the name of “non-discrimination.” That’s liberalism for you.

Our cherished American freedoms come ultimately from God, as recognized by our national charter, the Declaration of Independence, which appeals to “Nature and Nature’s God.” Homosexual behavior–which cannot produce life–is against both. Witness the grossly disproportionate STD rates linked to “men who have sex with men.”

It is ludicrous to posit “civil rights” based on homosexuality and gender rebellion as “constitutional.” But it is downright un-American to argue—as many LGBT activists do—that in a nation founded by people fleeing religious oppression, “rights” based on sexual sin should trump Americans’ freedom to uphold biblical sexual morality and real marriage between a man and a woman.

The LGBT Lobby and the media have raised the issue of potential discrimination in Indiana. Let’s talk about discrimination.

With the rise of “gay power” in the West has come an abundance of victims of pro-homosexual Political Correctness. All over the world, Christians and moral-minded citizens have been victimized by a liberal, elitist pro-homosexual orthodoxy that increasingly brooks no dissent. The media have trivialized the zero-sum conflict between “gay rights” and freedom of conscience as being merely about wedding cake bakers–but the escalating “LGBTyranny” goes far beyond that: