Indiana Govenor Facing Pressure From Anti-Gay Bill

Indian Governor Mike Pence is facing much pressure from approving The Freedom Restoration Act. The bill was authored by Senator Dennis Kruse, Scott Schneider, Brent Steele. The act " Prohibits an applicant, employee, or former employee from pursuing certain causes of action against a private employer." It prohibits the government from burdening a person's exercise of religion. 

So if an employer found out that you did not share the same religious views as them, they are within their rights to fire an individual without any worry of repercussions from a lawsuit. There are large implications for the LGBTQ and MOGII community. If an employer does not want to hire someone who identifies as LGBTQ, according to this law they are withing their rights to do so. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects applicants and employees against discrimination on the "basis of race, color, religion, national origin, and sex," but it does not mention anything about sexual orientation. 

It is wonderful to see the retaliation that the State of Indiana is facing from the American public. Many companies have started to protest the governor's actions. Among the companies GenCon, Apple, Yelp, and NCAA have all taken a stand against the current act. Apple's Tim Cooke took to twitter stating " Apple is for Everyone... we are deeply disappointed with Indiana's new law."

 NCAA has said it is going to work hard to make sure that competitors and fans are "not negatively impacted by this bill" 

Gen Con, one of the most popular gaming conventions, is discussing boycotting their convention by not continuing their conventions in Indiana. 

This backlash to the Religious Freedom Act is the kind of support that is needed to thwart such bigotry. A society that cannot accept a pluralistic environment stands to create hate. We are a country of many origins, faces, and beliefs. To pass such a bill turns all the sacrifices, endeavors and victories from the civil rights era into an empty cause. Laws like these are indirect ways to discriminate against our friends, families, neighbors. 

We as the people must inform our leaders that we do not want such acts to exist. It is great to see entities such as the ones mentioned above come together to fight such hate. It is now up to us the people to join them as well. If history has taught us anything, it is that rights are not taken away all at once, they are chipped away little by little till they are all gone. 

References 
https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2015/bills/senate/101#digest-heading 

http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/statutes/index.cfm

http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2015/03/27/3639895/8-entities-may-boycott-indiana-new-lgbt-discrimination-bill/

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/27/news/companies/businesses-fight-indiana-gay-discrimination/

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/25/politics/mike-pence-religious-freedom-bill-gay-rights/

http://www.gencon.com/