I was not extremely sure what the outrage was over this new
law in Indiana. I only knew that when it comes to media they can make any news
good news or bad news, so I decided it would be best I looked into this. I saw
enough of it on TV and wanted to learn more about it. To most, the law
basically “Allows any individual or corporation to cite religious beliefs as a
defense when sued by a private party”. Now this maybe simple and some may feel
like this law won’t hurt anyone but I decided to look further into it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/28/indiana-anti-lgbt-bill_n_6961188.html
With everything we have happening over in the United States,
I found it odd to write up this bill and take the time to actually go through
the process of getting it passed. If I
owned a restaurant, I can refuse to serve you based on my religious beliefs and
you can’t sue me because of it. I couldn’t believe I was reading this when I
saw it and I thought this would be great to share because I don’t care who you
love, happiness is really important to me but it makes me wonder one thing. Is
this ethical? I’m not sure why someone would take the time to make this bill
but I for one think it’s a waste of a good opportunity to work on other
problems this country has.
Bobic, I. (2015, March 28). Fierce backlash mounts over Indiana’s ‘religious freedom’ law. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/28/indiana-anti-lgbt-bill_n_6961188.html
Vincent Marshall
I think the passing of this bill is a scary piece of legislation that many Indiana business owners will try to utilize to berate, humiliate, and single out people of the LGBT community. In this day and age, giving someone the ability to discriminate based on religious belief is appalling. If a customer enters a restaurant and behaves in a manner that is not causing harm to anyone else, what does it matter his or her sexual preference/religious belief? Everyone should have the right to eat at any public establishment or utilize any public service. This goes back to the day where black people had to sit in the back of the bus, while white people sat in the front of the bus. I don’t understand why some patrons can be served at a restaurant but others aren’t “worthy” enough. Our country has taken so many leaps and bounds in the direction of equality and acceptance of all, and this bill has negated from the advancements our society has made. Of course racism and religious discrimination will never completely be erased, but allowing legislation like this to be passed is ludicrous.
ReplyDeleteKali Morgenstern
Vincent,
ReplyDeleteI have been following this situation closely, as I attended Indiana University for undergrad and will be interning with Indy’s WNBA team this summer. I found a great article detailing the NCAA's reaction to this bill being passed (I highly suggest the read: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaa-s-response-to-indiana-s--religious-freedom--law-is-perfect-203433125.html) and it also raises some important ethical questions. The fact that this religious freedom bill was passed is beyond me, but the NCAA did the right thing in releasing a statement, with the NCAA being headquartered in Indy and the NCAA men's basketball Final Four being held in Indy this year. Mark Emmert, the president of the NCAA, threatened to stop holding events in the city and even mentioned the idea of headquartering the organization elsewhere if this bill gets out of hand. With schools having LGBTQ athletes, coaches, and administrators, it is important to tackle this situation head-on as Emmert has thus far. It is completely unethical in my opinion for this type of discrimination to still exist in today’s society.