Timothy Kincaid of Box Turtle Bulletin ponders the rapid fix to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in Indiana. Kincaid is sure it wasn't the protests in front of the Capitol or a Twitter storm that changed lawmakers' minds, though the noise helped. It was Corporate America. Through donations they had ties to legislators and they used those ties for some personal face-time to demand change. Yes, this is an instance where corporate takeover of American politics worked in out favor. So why did they do it?
Yes, there are some, like Tim Cook of Apple, who have a personal stake in these kinds of laws. For other business leaders preventing discrimination has an effect on the bottom line. These laws affect their gay employees and that affects morale, which affects productivity. Happy employees are better employees. And those making travel arrangements don't want to worry whether a particular B&B will force tomorrow's keynote speaker to sleep in the car.
Ari Ezra Waldman of Towleroad says the fix to the RFRA in Indiana wasn't much of a fix. As I surmised, the new law can't be used for discrimination, but sexual minorities aren't included in the state's civil rights law and that can be used to discriminate. This situation is slightly better because 11 communities in Indiana have local non-discrimination laws.
Waldman notes lawmakers didn't repeal the RFRA, they amended it. Which still suggests that religious freedom trumps all.
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