Friday, April 03, 2015

A half-assed attempt to fix the Indiana Religious Freedom law

Religious Right Tyranny Crushed in Indiana as RFRA Revision Signed into Law 

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Republicans want you to believe these are actual, meaningful changes to a law which has been excoriated from coast to coast. And they are, to a degree.
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The Human Rights Campaign lays out the changes thusly:
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In cities (including Indianapolis) which have LGBT non-discrimination protections on the books, the RFRA cannot be used as a defense to discrimination against LGBT people in:
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    Employment: A private, secular employer can no longer cite their personal religion as the reason that they fired or refused to hire an LGBT person.

    Housing: A landlord can no longer cite their personal religion as the reason that they refused to rent to or evicted an LGBT person.
    Public Accommodations: A restaurant owner can no longer cite their personal religion as the reason they refused service to an LGBT person

The "fix" does not address other critical areas such as:

    Healthcare: A private pharmacist could still cite their personal religious beliefs as the reason for denying a legitimate prescription to an LGBT person seeking HIV medication, hormone therapy, or to a lesbian couple seeking fertility drugs.

    Education: A parent could still sue an individual teacher for intervening when their child harasses another child that is perceived to be LGBT.

In cities without LGBT non-discrimination protections on the books, LGBT Hoosiers still face discrimination of all kinds. Based on the 2010 census, approximately 20 percent or 1/5 of Hoosiers live in a place with LGBT non-discrimination protections. Meaning approximately 80 percent of Hoosiers live in a place with no explicit protection from or recourse for LGBT discrimination under state or local law.
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According to Bosma, "We want to assure that every Hoosier's rights are protected and won't be infringed upon by the enactment of RFRA. We value each and every Hoosier."
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From the above, you can see that the amendment failed where "every Hoosier's rights" are concerned
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