A video released by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) highlights the eight different times that Gov. Mike Pence ducked, dodged, and declined to answer simple, straightforward questions about Indiana’s new law and whether discrimination against LGBT Hoosiers should be illegal, on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
Stephanopoulos asked multiple straightforward questions requiring a yes or no answer and Pence repeatedly refused to answer whether the law would allow businesses to discriminate against LGBT Hoosiers or whether discrimination against LGBT Hoosiers should be illegal. Pence did indicate that he would not advocate for adding sexual orientation as a protected class under the state’s civil rights laws, that they “weren’t going to change” SB 101, although it may be “clarified.”
However, Pence offered scant details about any “clarification” legislation and following the program HRC President Chad Griffin said, “Gov. Pence’s calls for a ‘clarification’ of this destructive bill are phony unless the legislation guarantees explicit non-discrimination protections for LGBT Hoosiers and includes a clear civil rights carve-out within the RFRA. If Governor Pence is right and he really doesn’t want to discriminate, he needs to prove it by protecting the LGBT residents and visitors truly at risk in Indiana. Anything less is a shameful face-saving measure.”
Criticism of the new law continued to grow yesterday with Indiana-based Angie’s List stating that they would be cancelling a planned $40 million expansion in the state in response to the new law.
