One week and one massive public relations disaster after Gov. Mike Pence signed Indiana's license-to-discriminate bill into law, it's being reported that:
Indiana Republican leaders are set to announce a deal Thursday morning that alters Indiana's controversial "religious freedom" law to ensure it does not discriminate against gay and lesbian customers of Indiana businesses.
But does it? According to the report:
The compromise legislation specifies that the new religious freedom law cannot be used as a legal defense to discriminate against patrons based on their sexual orientation or gender identity ... But it doesn't go as far as establishing gays and lesbians as a protected class of citizens statewide or repealing the law outright, both things that Republican leaders have said they could not support.
And bear in mind, this grand bargain was apparently reached after an exhaustive consultation between the Republicans who wrote and voted for the law, Mike Pence's chief of staff and "a small handful of business leaders." Any groups or people missing from that round-table of compromise that may have had some valuable input to offer that you can think of?
Is this "fix" just a pathetic attempt by Mike Pence to stanch the bleeding? Because remember, on Tuesday night, Pence went on Fox News to assure Sean Hannity that:
Well look, I stand by this law, uh, the law doesn't need to be fixed, we need to fix the perception.
Stay tuned.
6:56 AM PT: Language of the "fix" is here. And I have to ask, why does it say "does not authorize" instead of "prohibits"?
Sign the petition: Equal rights for all—stop and repeal religious freedom bills that enshrine discrimination.