Indiana Republicans on Monday pledged to clarify a new “religious freedom” law, while similar proposals stalled in Georgia and North Carolina after businesses and activists said such measures could be used to discriminate against gays.
However, Arkansas lawmakers signaled they would move forward with their own bill, even after Indiana was rebuked by companies and executives including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Apple Inc chief executive officer Tim Cook and Eli Lilly and Co.
Indiana’s law, signed by Governor Mike Pence last week, was perceived as going further than those passed in 19 other states, giving businesses a right to refuse services on religious grounds.
GAY MARRIAGE REACTION
Gay marriage became legal in Indiana last year following an appeals court ruling, and gay rights activists say Republicans pushed through the act in response.
It was enacted months before an expected US Supreme Court ruling over state bans on same-sex marriage.
On Monday, Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma and Indiana Senate President pro tempore David Long, both of the Republican Party, told reporters the law was not intended to discriminate, and that it sets a legal standard allowing people of all faiths to bring religious freedom claims.
“To the extent that we need to clarify that, by adding something to the law to make that clear that’s not the intent, we are more than willing to do it,” Long said.
Nine chief executive officers, including the heads of Angie’s List and Eli Lilly, wrote letters to Pence, Bosma and Long on Monday asking them to “take immediate action” to ensure the act would not sanction or encourage discrimination.
Thousands rallied against the law in Indianapolis last weekend and Washington State’ Governor Jay Inslee on Monday said the state would join Connecticut, San Francisco and Seattle in banning official travel to Indiana.
‘ODIOUS MEASURE’
The rock band Wilco announced in a Twitter post on Monday it was canceling its May 7 Indianapolis show because of this “odious measure.”
“We’ve been embarrassed before the nation,” Indiana House Minority Leader Scott Pelath, of the Democratic Party, told reporters, calling for the law’s repeal.
Bosma said lawmakers were looking at different options for clarifying the law.
Pence on Monday defended it in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, saying it “has been grossly misconstrued.”
“I want to make clear to [Indiana residents] and every American that despite what critics and many in the national media have asserted, the law is not a ‘license to discriminate,’ either in Indiana or elsewhere,” he said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was