Media figures all over the United States are livid after Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a religious freedom bill into law Thursday.
The state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act is “anti-gay” legislation, say journalists and opinion makers at major news organizations.
The Chicago Tribune’s Rex Huppke in a Friday editorial, titled “The shame of Indiana’s new ‘religious freedom’ law,” characterized the law as a “bunch of baloney,” adding that he apologizes “to the young people in that state made to feel lesser because of the actions of a few in power.”
Separately, a Guardian op-ed declared, “Indiana is not protecting religious freedom but outright zealotry,”
The measure, Indiana SB 101, claims to protect the religious liberties of those in the state from encroachment by federal and state government.
The law passed in Indiana is similar to the one passed by Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton. The aim of such laws is to prohibit “substantial government burdens on religious exercise unless the government can show a compelling interest in burdening religious liberty and does so through the least restrictive means,” according to the Daily Signal.
The Indiana law states, “[A] governmental entity may not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion, even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.”
The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack writes that the law “does not grant a license to discriminate” but rather “establishes the balancing test courts must apply in religious freedom cases.”
But reporters and pundits in the U.S. appear convinced Hoosiers will use the law to discriminate against members of the LGBT community, with story after story after story after story after story calling the law “controversial.”
“NCAA ‘concerned’ over Indiana law that allows biz to reject gays,” read one CNN headline.
The liberal Talking Points Memo said in a headline, “Indiana Gov. Pence Signs Anti-Gay Religious Freedom Bill Into Law.”
The Los Angeles Times had a suggestion: “If you plan to boycott Indiana, here is some of what you won’t see.”
Similarly, the New York Times claimed in the very first paragraph of one report that the law allows “businesses to refuse service to same-sex couples in the name of religious freedom.”
Writing at Forbes, Lee Igel suggested that the National Collegiate Athletic Association move the Final Four tournament out of Indiana to show it’s “serious about human rights.”
Citing opposition from Indiana’s “political and economic elite,” USA Today reported Friday that the bill is “almost universally loathed” for being “anti-gay.”
A Daily Beast headline Wednesday blared, “Religious Freedom? Nope, Just Plain Old Discrimination.”
The anti-Indiana chatter was especially loud Friday on Twitter, where reporters joined opinion journalists in outrage.
Sports reporter Bonnie Bernstein remarked on Twitter, “But this is crap. Are we going backwards?”
Tech Crunch reporter Jordan Crook tweeted, “#BoycottIndiana.”
Tech Crunch editor Alexia Tsotsis suggested Apple should “shut down all its stores in Indiana, refuse to take online orders from there.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reporter Alex Wayne suggested fellow journalists not bother to “attribute the homophobia of this law to ‘critics.'”
Daily Beast executive editor Noah Shachtman called Indiana legislators “bigots” while tweeting an article titled “Gay Money Is No Good in Indiana.”
The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein sent out a request on social media: “If you’re in Indiana and feel you’ve been discriminated against due to your sexual orientation, tell us your story.”
Apparently unfazed by the pushback, Pence stood by the bill, saying that “For more than twenty years, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act has never undermined our nation’s anti-discrimination laws, and it will not in Indiana.”
