Indiana licenses discrimination, but at a high price

[marmar]

By Brian Dickerson, Detroit Free Press Columnist


I hope all the lawmakers who want to make it easier for Michigan businesses to refuse service to gay couples are taking note of the whirlwind Indiana has been reaping since it adopted similar legislation last week.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signed a bill into law Thursday that allows individuals or companies in his state to turn away gay customers if serving them would impose a "substantial burden" on the vendor's religious beliefs.

Pence said the law was needed to protect citizens whose religious liberty is under assault by the federal courts. But critics in higher education, business, and college and professional sports denounced the measure as a thinly veiled license to discriminate and warned it might compel them to limit their activities in the state.

The president of the NCAA, whose Final Four basketball tournament is to take place in Indianapolis this weekend, expressed concern about the new law's impact on student-athletes and NCAA employees. ....................(more)

http://www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/brian-dickerson/2015/03/31/indiana-law-scaring-employers/70699572/