No, it is not true that the Indiana law is basically the same as the federal law passed under Clinton. More on that here.
Yes, we already had this conversation.
Tengrain, who has been covering this story extensively, looks at the growing campaign against the law and at Republican Presidential candidates arraying themselves on the wrong side -- as pretty much all of them have done, including the "moderate" Jeb Bush (found via Progressive Eruptions).
The bad guys are already conceding the rhetorical high ground. But we can't let them squirm away from the truth about what they intend.
Right-wingers increasingly can't cope with the far different reality outside their echo chamber (found via The Reaction).
Maybe it's a question of whose ox is being gored.
A similar law moving forward in Arkansas is being opposed by businesses based there -- including Wal-Mart, hardly a bastion of liberalism. And in Georgia, a gay-friendly Republican called the bigots' bluff.
The same issues are being fought over as far afield as Northern Ireland (found via Republic of Gilead).
A marijuana church has sprung up in Indiana to take advantage of the law (found via Mendip). I like the spirit of the idea, but do we really want marijuana to be defiled by association with religion?
Added link: For a range of right-wing views, see this comment thread. Sample (#9): "Recognition of alternative lifestyles as equally valid constitues a war against the traditional family" -- that is, those not conforming to the taboo system must be made second-class citizens, exactly as I've asserted these guys want to do.
Finally, a reminder (found via Mendip) that not everyone will be boycotting:
The situation with Indiana's RFRA has been mutating so quickly that I'm having trouble keeping up. I want to write a blog post on the situation once the dust settles.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, the Religious Right is reacting to Gov. Pence's statement.
http://www.frc.org/newsroom/family-research-council-statement-on-governor-mike-pences-proposed-change-to-the-religious-freedom-restoration-act
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/indiana-activist-dont-clarify-religious-freedom-law-wont-allow-discrimination
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the fake Australian accents that were used during the Monty Python clip pictured. Graham's was probably the best!
ReplyDeleteAll the best,
Woody
Ahab: Thank goodness for the outspoken fundies, eagerly sabotaging Pence's effort to claim that the law wasn't meant to let people deny service to gays! The bull-in-a-china-shop bigots will help keep our own side fired up.
ReplyDeleteWoody: Graham was the one who played Bruce, right?
Infidel - The taller guy who played Yellowbeard!
ReplyDeleteAdd this to the "I can't believe they'd say something as dumb as this" file:
ReplyDeleteTehran Tom [Cotton] says US gays should be thankful they live here, where all they have to deal with is inequality. If they lived in Iran, they'd be hanged.
He appears a bit too eager to share this information with the rest of us.
Woody: Heh.
ReplyDeleteShaw: Yes, I saw that on your blog. Of course, the fallacy is that if we should never be concerned about any problem if a worse problem exists somewhere, no problem would ever get any attention except whichever one we decided was the very worst one on Earth -- and think what a mess the world would be in if we operated that way.
The problem is that the Indiana Legislature and Governor Pence managed to violate the rules of the Philosophy Faculty; they were caught bothering the Aborigines while people were looking!
ReplyDeleteAnd the Aborigines packed more wallop than they were expecting.....
ReplyDelete