Despite the national firestorm surrounding Indiana, the Arkansas legislature just passed an anti-gay “religious freedom” bill that HRC says is “virtually identical” to the Hoosier State’s.
For five days Indiana Governor Mike Pence has faced increasing condemnation and a tremendous loss of both revenue and good will for Hoosiers after signing an anti-gay “religious freedom” bill into law.Â
States, cities, and corporations have issued travel bans, major companies have announced they are cutting back investments in Indiana, and practically every news story is about the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Despite this never-before-seen firestorm, Republican lawmakers in Arkansas just passed legislation the Human Rights Campaign describes as “virtually identical” to the controversial law in Indiana.
The bill, HB 1228, now heads to Asa Hutchinson’s desk. The GOP governor has promised to sign it.
The legislation is vastly different from the federal 1993Â Religious Freedom Restoration Act. It grants personhood to corporations, non-profits, and other organizations and businesses. It allows private parties to sue each other. And it targets minorities, like the LGBT community, and women.
“The Arkansas and Indiana bills are virtually identical in terms of language and intent,” Sarah Warbelow, legal director at the Human Rights Campaign, told the Huffington Post. “They place LGBT people, people of color, religious minorities, women and many more people at risk of discrimination.”
The Huffington Post adds that “the bill’s author, state Rep. Bob Ballinger (R), said its language was staying put, and that it would be too confusing to try to define what constitutes discrimination.”
“If that means that you can force somebody who has deeply held religious beliefs to engage in some activity that violates their deeply held religious beliefs, and that the state has the right to force them into doing it, I can’t say that I do agree with that,” he said.
Arkansas Online reports that “leaders of Apple, Yelp and Little Rock-based Acxiom have called on Hutchinson to veto the bill, and Wal-Mart has also expressed reservations about it.”
Calls for a boycott of Arkansas have already begun:
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Image by Nicole Aptekar via Flickr and a CC license
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