Bills on Religious Freedom Upset Capitols in Arkansas and Indiana

April 1, 2015

New York Times Reports:

The Arkansas legislature on Tuesday passed its version of a bill described by proponents as a religious freedom law, even as Indiana's political leaders struggled to gain control over a growing backlash that has led to calls to boycott the state because of criticism that its law could be a vehicle for discrimination against gay couples.

The Arkansas bill now goes to the state's Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, who expressed reservations about an earlier version but more recently said he would sign the measure if it "reaches my desk in similar form as to what has been passed in 20 other states." But the bill already faces a significant corporate backlash, including from Doug McMillon, the chief executive of Walmart, the state's largest corporation, who said Tuesday afternoon that Mr. Hutchinson should veto it.

"I've come to the conclusion that it would be helpful to move legislation this week that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses the right to discriminate against anyone," Mr. Pence, a Republican, said at a news conference in Indianapolis.

He acknowledged that the law had become a threat to the state's reputation and economy, with companies and organizations signaling that they would avoid Indiana in response. Mr. Pence said he had been on the phone with business leaders from around the country, adding, "We want to make it clear that Indiana's open for business."

In Indiana, lawmakers are expected to go to a conference committee as early as Wednesday morning. They are likely to use an unrelated bill as a vehicle to create the clarification Mr. Pence has requested. Aides to lawmakers said they expected passage to happen as early as Thursday, but it is not certain that a measure acceptable to the legislature will be acceptable to critics.

Proponents of Arkansas's bill insisted that there was no intent to discriminate against gays and lesbians, pointing out that there had been several previous attempts to pass such a law well before same-sex marriage came to be seen as nearly inevitable.

"All the way through this I thought it was unnecessary because of the fact that it didn't do everything that everybody was saying it was doing," Representative Bob Ballinger, a Republican and the chief sponsor of the bill, said in the minutes after the bill's successful passage. "In hindsight maybe I would have done it to maybe avoid all the pain."