Gender discrimination and the costs of ideology
The New York Times is reporting that Indiana officials are working to "clarify" a recently-passed 'religious freedom law' that could allow businesses to deny service on religious grounds to customers perceived to be gay or lesbian.
We've seen all sorts of alleged clarifications aimed to clean up various political missteps - - 'walking back' is the favored non-denial denial. of late - - and Wisconsin got a dose of "drafting error" to explain away Walker's still-not-repaired budget attack on the long-established University of Wisconsin public service mission.
But I'm not sure how Indiana gets itself out of the damaging ideological trap it dug for itself at the expense of the First Amendment on behalf of its right-wing, Tea Party constituencies.
Indiana, home to the Final Four, or Indiana, the Discrimination Light state?
When Indiana fully stops digging this nasty hole, taxpayers there are going to wish their losses - - all told - - could have stopped at the $1.1 million it just cost Wisconsin taxpayers to finally settle the consequences of having inserted and then defended. at state expense, language in the Wisconsin Constitution that enabled discrimination against same-sex couples.
We've seen all sorts of alleged clarifications aimed to clean up various political missteps - - 'walking back' is the favored non-denial denial. of late - - and Wisconsin got a dose of "drafting error" to explain away Walker's still-not-repaired budget attack on the long-established University of Wisconsin public service mission.
But I'm not sure how Indiana gets itself out of the damaging ideological trap it dug for itself at the expense of the First Amendment on behalf of its right-wing, Tea Party constituencies.
Indiana, home to the Final Four, or Indiana, the Discrimination Light state?
When Indiana fully stops digging this nasty hole, taxpayers there are going to wish their losses - - all told - - could have stopped at the $1.1 million it just cost Wisconsin taxpayers to finally settle the consequences of having inserted and then defended. at state expense, language in the Wisconsin Constitution that enabled discrimination against same-sex couples.
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Well, this joins Indiana's previous legislative claim to fame: having considered a bill in 1897 to set the value of Pi by law... not to exactly three (3.0) as legend has it, but to 3.2 — which would at least have saved a lot of ink over the years.
(Yeah, Dan Quayle was not an aberration among Hoosier politicians.)
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