The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) views the passage and signing of Indiana’s new “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” as nothing less than reprehensible. “The law is morally offensive and detrimental to business climate of the Hoosier State. Laws allowing religious exemptions to discriminate are a desperate and callous backlash against the success of marriage equality and other advances for the LGBT community,” the NGLCC said in a statement.
NGLCC works closely with the Indy Rainbow Chamber, the Indianapolis based local affiliate LGBT chamber, as well as dozens of hardworking LGBT entrepreneurs in Indiana. “This law threatens their ability to do business. Beyond that, this law essentially relegates LGBT people in Indiana to second-class citizens, who now must question whether they will be served in certain restaurants or be allowed to shop in particular stores, the statement continued.
NGLCC has applauded the announcement by Salesforce.com Inc CEO Marc Benioff that the global cloud computing company would cancel upcoming events in Indiana. NGLCC co-founder and President Justin Nelson had similar sentiments saying “The decision by Salesforce.com to cancel events in Indiana reveals how detrimental these laws can be to state economies. Companies will have very tough decisions when determining if it is feasible to do business in states such as Indiana, where employees are subject to discrimination. The problem is even more difficult when considering opening new offices or relocating. As for NGLCC, this law would make it very hard for us to take our annual conference there – a conference that had an estimated $1.4 million economic impact last year in Las Vegas and we are only one of many conferences that will look elsewhere. We will not subject our attendees to potential discrimination.”
While the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is now the law in Indiana, similar legislation is being proposed in state houses across the country. The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to stopping legalized discrimination from becoming the status quo. Currently, NGLCC is working with our affiliate chamber in Nevada to dissuade lawmakers there from passing a similar bill.
Religious beliefs can’t overcome the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection, they are not civil, equal rights which are inalienable.
Freedom of Religion refers to beliefs within the boundary of a religion and cannot be enforced outside that religion which would be an alienable action.