Humanity Devolved
Oppress. Ostracize. Persecute. Humanity's vulgar response to different, often deployed in tandem with more violent reactions of Maim, Kill, and Destroy. The sciences of evolution, sociology, and psychology tells us that these base, animalistic urges to discriminate against people who do not conform to our limited definition of normal are vestiges of behaviors that enabled our burgeoning species to survive the myriad dangers of the wilderness.
This aversion to the unknown, and fear of what may be lurking in that endless oblivion, is fine when when you're worried about fangs and talons in the darkness coming to eat you or your primitive offspring. However, in modern, civilized society, such inclinations towards our fellow humans are extraordinarily malapropos. Logic and tolerance should prevail, yet hate and discrimination still lurk in the shadows of our society and occasionally gain enough agency to reveal their ugly visages and run rampant in public.
Today's burning issue that unleashes the beasts of hate from their tenebrous lair is sexual orientation, followed closely by gender identity. However, it's not as if we've graduated beyond misogyny or racism; we have just managed hide it better. Tomorrow's issue will most likely deal with the rise of non-belief; miraculously bringing christian fanatics and muslim zealots together to vomit forth acrimony in a cacophony of hate. In Indiana, the barking and howling of the hate beast has manifested as the Religion Freedom Restoration Act.
A Solution in Search of a Problem
The Indiana ACLU called out the RFRA as a "solution in search of a problem" which is an accurate description of a bill whose namesake suggests religious freedom has been lost. The only thing religion has lost in the in the last year is its unconstitutional tyranny to impose itself on Hoosiers who didn't conform to a limited interpretation of marriage from an antiquated and often self-contradictory mythology written by goat-herders thousands of years ago.
When SCotUS declined to hear the appeal of the circuit court rulings that struck down gay marriage bans for Indiana and four other states in October of 2014, marriage equality became law. This places the context of the drafting of the Indiana RFRA firmly in the domain of retaliation and sends a message that "it's acceptable to discriminate against LGBT people."
The defenders of this bill point out that there is a federal version signed into law by Clinton, yet there is additional language that changes the intent of the bill to keep citizens' religious freedoms from becoming burdened by government interference to allowing citizens to protect themselves from civil litigation from other citizens for their own discriminatory actions by using this Act as their defense.
Besides, the federal act has several unintended consequences ranging from denial of housing to unmarried couples (used as defense against the violation of fair housing laws) to thwarting the criminal investigation of polygamous fundamentalist mormons who force twelve-year-olds into marriage. The additional language introduced in the Indiana RFRA bill would open the door for a much broader range of [un]intended consequences. The wording of the [unamended] RFRA would clearly encourage rampant discrimination against not only LGBT, but anyone for any reason.
This legislation was not about protecting people's religious freedoms, it was about protecting privilege, the status quo, and people's comfort level. Jim Crow on steroids.
Bad for Business
Fortunately, a business with a strong local presence and a history of promoting social justice quickly began applying pressure, which started a trend of local and distant businesses and government entities to do the same. The CEO of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, along with its parent company, Salesforce.com, issued strong objections to the RFRA and began shutting down non-essential business travel to the state and vowed to halt expansions. This act cascaded as many local businesses and entities such as Lilly, NCAA, Cummins, and Angie's List began throwing their weight around. The city of Indianapolis even issued statements and railed against this enshrinement of discrimination.
The pressure ended up making a difference with amended language being accepted and quickly passed by the state government, who had been shamed and berated at a national level. They all plead innocence for their motives, but the context couldn't have been more clear and they were trying to save face under the national spotlight.
Pyrrhic Victory
We won the battle, but I'm withdrawing from the war. Or at least abandoning this particular theater/front, I still hear people I know, even family members, complain about how their religious liberties are being stripped away. I'm tired of pointing out that their liberty is intact and only their ability to impose their religion on others has been impeded. I'm also tired of that look of disbelief or rage that immediately follows my reminder. It happens all too often around these amber waves of grain.
Additional Reading
- A Pagan Lawyer’s Take on Indiana’s “Religious Right to Discriminate Law”
- Don’t Kid Yourself: A RFRA Is a Bundle of Negative Unintended Consequences
- Whose Fault Is RFRA?
- SB 101 Where Do They Work?
- Salesforce Urges the Indiana House to Say "No" to RFRA
- Indiana Govenor Mike Pence Signs Revised RFRA Bill
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