Bill passes Senate, would allow businesses to deny service to same-sex couples
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Feb. 24, 2015) ? The Indiana State Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow businesses to refuse service to newly married same-sex couples. This bill passed on with republican support, 40 to 10 out of the state senate. The bill heads now to the State House of Representatives.
The bill aims to allow corporations, big or small, to refuse service to anyone, all in the name of religious freedom.
?If you were to ask the question, what is the single most important pillar of our democracy, chances are the answer to that question is going to be freedom of religion,? said State Senator Scott Schneider (R ? Indianapolis) during Tuesday?s debate.
?This is a license to discriminate,? said State Senator Karen Tallian (D ? Portage).
Democrats claim the bill will allow major corporations, everyone from McDonalds to Home Depot, to discriminate.
?This bill is aimed at same-sex couples,? said Tallian. She said the bill is conservative backlash, fueled by last year?s legalization of same-sex marriage in Indiana.
But Tallian said the bill opens a can of worms; if a business can deny service to gay couples, she said, they can just as easily deny it to anyone else. During debate over the bill Monday, she held up anti-Jewish, anti-women, anti-Catholic, and anti-bi-racial signs, arguing, those groups could fall victim under this bill.
?What we?re doing here is to extend the ability for this to turn into a big discrimination bill,? she said.
?This bill acts as a shield and not a sword,? said Schneider.
Republicans argue the bill will protect Indiana business owners with strong religious beliefs. Schneider argues Tuesday, that it mirrors the federal law already in place.
?This bill does not legalize discrimination in any way, shape, manor, or form. It does not pick a winner or a loser and it does not place one faith, one denomination, one belief system over another,? he said.
Another controversial bill that passed out of the senate Tuesday would make abortions illegal in Indiana, that are based on the sex of the fetus, or if it is determined that the infant could have a disability. That bill passed 35 to 15.
http://cbs4indy.com/2015/02/24/bill...ow-businesses-to-deny-service-to-gay-couples/
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Feb. 24, 2015) ? The Indiana State Senate passed a bill Tuesday that would allow businesses to refuse service to newly married same-sex couples. This bill passed on with republican support, 40 to 10 out of the state senate. The bill heads now to the State House of Representatives.
The bill aims to allow corporations, big or small, to refuse service to anyone, all in the name of religious freedom.
?If you were to ask the question, what is the single most important pillar of our democracy, chances are the answer to that question is going to be freedom of religion,? said State Senator Scott Schneider (R ? Indianapolis) during Tuesday?s debate.
?This is a license to discriminate,? said State Senator Karen Tallian (D ? Portage).
Democrats claim the bill will allow major corporations, everyone from McDonalds to Home Depot, to discriminate.
?This bill is aimed at same-sex couples,? said Tallian. She said the bill is conservative backlash, fueled by last year?s legalization of same-sex marriage in Indiana.
But Tallian said the bill opens a can of worms; if a business can deny service to gay couples, she said, they can just as easily deny it to anyone else. During debate over the bill Monday, she held up anti-Jewish, anti-women, anti-Catholic, and anti-bi-racial signs, arguing, those groups could fall victim under this bill.
?What we?re doing here is to extend the ability for this to turn into a big discrimination bill,? she said.
?This bill acts as a shield and not a sword,? said Schneider.
Republicans argue the bill will protect Indiana business owners with strong religious beliefs. Schneider argues Tuesday, that it mirrors the federal law already in place.
?This bill does not legalize discrimination in any way, shape, manor, or form. It does not pick a winner or a loser and it does not place one faith, one denomination, one belief system over another,? he said.
Another controversial bill that passed out of the senate Tuesday would make abortions illegal in Indiana, that are based on the sex of the fetus, or if it is determined that the infant could have a disability. That bill passed 35 to 15.
http://cbs4indy.com/2015/02/24/bill...ow-businesses-to-deny-service-to-gay-couples/
