EDITORIAL: Pence fails to understand equal rights

Pence spent just over four minutes of his speech talking about an issue that did not make his priority list: in his words, “whether to extend full civil rights protections to Hoosiers on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.” He said a lot of things about how welcoming Indiana is, but in the end, he did not say he would extend full rights to some Hoosiers. Quite the opposite.

“I will not support any bill that diminishes religious freedom of Hoosiers or that interferes with the Constitutional rights of our citizens to live out their beliefs in worship, service or work,” he said.

Let’s focus on that last word: work. This discussion has been illustrated by the unlikely scenario in which Christian bakers might be forced to make a cake for a gay wedding. The governor’s words would broaden religious exceptions much further into protecting a server in a restaurant who refuses to wait on someone who’s gay or transgendered; a Christian boss who fires someone after finding out they’re gay; a landlord who refuses to rent to someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, based on a religious belief.

The protection of religious freedoms is a laudable cause, but as he tries to walk a fine line, the governor is simply supporting what he says he isn’t supporting — giving Hoosiers the right to discriminate against entire groups of people.

The Legislature needs to pass a bill that provides protections for all Hoosiers to be able to shop where they want, work where they’re qualified and be served in the market place along side everybody else.

Anything short of that will signal that when Pence said in his speech, “Hoosiers do not tolerate discrimination against anybody,” he didn’t really mean it.