Quote:
Originally Posted by honeychile
People realize that there are now twenty states with such a law, don't they? From the Washington Post: "19 states that have ‘religious freedom’ laws like Indiana’s that no one is boycotting"
For those not wishing to check out the map, the states are:
Alabama
Connecticut
Florida
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
New Mexico
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
"Note: Arizona is included in the map of states with a Religious Freedom Restoration Act despite the veto of the controversial SB 1062 in 2014, because a RFRA bill was passed in 2012." |
I've pondered this a lot this week. To me, the difference is the timing of most of those other states' laws, and the impetus behind the Indiana law. I've researched the would-be motives behind the Missouri law (which is about 12 years old), and it had nothing to do with local businesses or being allowed to refuse service to anyone. It was about how zoning laws impacted churches, and whether non-Christian religions were getting the same treatment as Christianity.
To the best of my knowledge (which, I'll admit, is limited since I have only spent a relatively small amount of time looking at this from a national perspective) Indiana is unique in its timing and its motives. 13 of those 19 at least have been in place over 10 years. Our society has changed a LOT in those 10 years, and LGBTQ rights is a hot topic now when it wasn't then.
Also, to the best of my knowledge (again, limited), no other states have been using their RFRAs to discriminate. They use them to prevent being discriminated against, which is a HUGE difference.