Today, despite the fact that three major conventions have threatened to pull out of Indiana and corporations are balking, Republican Indiana Governor Mike Pence has promised to sign the heinous "religious freedom" bill in a private ceremony, shut away from any criticism or dissent.
There is a lot of talk in Indiana about a recall for Pence over this, but whooooooooooops Indiana has no recall provision for statewide office-holders, because of course we don't.
This bill is going to affect a lot of people—it's already tough to be a public atheist in Indiana, and it's about to get a lot tougher—but it is going to affect LGBTQIA Hoosiers most of all.
This legislation is, quite literally, a license to discriminate against queer Hoosiers.
Although the Republican-controlled state legislature, nor the Republican governor, won't say it plainly, this reprehensible bill is their fuck-you to the federal government for thwarting their efforts to continue to ban same-sex marriage in Indiana. They want the right to make LGBTQIA Hoosiers second-class citizens, and they couldn't do it by banning same-sex marriage, so they'll do it this way.
Even at the expense of much-needed income brought to the state by conventions and corporations.
It's shameful and hateful and utterly contemptible.
But, despite our government's queerphobic fuckery, plenty of Hoosiers are protesting this codified bigotry. One of my favorite local places, Valpo Velvet Ice Cream, posted this to their Facebook page:
The state might be able to tell business owners that they're allowed to legally discriminate, but they can't force business owners to discriminate. The business owners who will proudly SERVE EVERYONE will make it known, and Hoosiers who don't support discrimination will take our business there.
I am not the only Hoosier who feels very strongly that if you don't SERVE EVERYONE, you won't be serving me.
Which doesn't ameliorate the fact that LGBTQIA Hoosiers feel like second-class citizens in their own state, nor stop the feelings of alienation and pain and anger that will come with being turned away by a business and having no legal recourse for that grave indignity.
The only thing that will do that is getting rid of this detestable law. That's going to take awhile. In the meantime, the market will decide, just like Republicans always wanted.
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