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Indiana governor asks for changes in religious freedom law

Governor Mike Pence defended the law, rejecting claims that it would let businesses deny services to gays and lesbians.Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images

Facing a national uproar over a religious freedom law, Governor Mike Pence of Indiana said Tuesday that he wanted the measure changed by week’s end, even as he stepped up a vigorous defense of the law, rejecting claims that it would allow business to deny services to gays and lesbians.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that it would be helpful to move legislation this week that makes it clear that this law does not give businesses the right to discriminate against anyone,” Pence, a Republican, said at a news conference in Indianapolis.

He acknowledged that the law, called the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, had become a threat to the state’s reputation and economy, with companies and organizations signaling that they would avoid Indiana in response to it. Pence said he had been on the phone with business leaders from around the country, adding, “We want to make it clear that Indiana’s open for business.”

But the governor, clearly exasperated and sighing audibly in response to questions, seemed concerned mostly with defending the law and the intent behind it, saying, “We’ve got a perception problem,” not one of substance. He referred to “gross mischaracterizations,” “reckless reporting by some in the media,” “completely false and baseless” accounts of the law, and “the smear that’s been leveled against this law and against the people of Indiana.”

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Like the Republican legislative leaders who said Monday that they intended to clarify the law, the governor said he could not say what form that clarification might take. “The language is still being worked out,” he said.

The law has set off a firestorm, with both critics and some supporters saying it would allow businesses to deny service to lesbian and gay customers if doing so would offend their religious beliefs.

Days before the NCAA is to hold the men’s basketball Final Four in Indianapolis, the group’s president, Mark Emmert, said Tuesday that the new law “strikes at the core values of what higher education in America is all about.” The city’s mayor, Greg Ballard, a Republican, and the state Chamber of Commerce have called on lawmakers to change the statute.

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Business executives, notably leaders of tech companies like Apple and Yelp, have spoken out against the law, and Angie’s List cited the law in canceling plans to expand its facilities in Indianapolis. Celebrities have ridiculed the law, entertainers have canceled tour dates in the state because of it, a gaming convention is considering going elsewhere, and the governors of Connecticut, New York, and Washington have imposed bans on state-funded travel to Indiana.

Several Republican presidential contenders have spoken out in favor of Indiana’s law, which could affect the presidential hopes of Pence himself. The law risks alienating centrists who favor gay rights, but backing away from it could anger Christian conservatives.

The uproar in Indiana has drawn attention — and the same kind of fire — to similar bills working their way through other legislatures. Lawmakers in Arkansas on Tuesday gave final approval to that state’s version, while the governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory, a Republican, said he would veto a bill there.

Pence said Tuesday: “If this law had been about discrimination, I would have vetoed it. I don’t believe for a minute that it was the intention of the General Assembly to create a license to discriminate, or a right to deny services to gays, lesbians, or anyone else in this state, and that was not my intent, but I appreciate that that’s become the perception.”

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But some of Indiana’s and the nation’s most prominent antigay rights groups have been among the most prominent supporters of the bill, including the American Family Association, the Family Research Council, the Indiana Family Institute, and Advance America. And some advocates of the law have disagreed with Pence, saying that it could be used to defend the right of a business to deny service to gay people.

Fellow Republicans have said the governor added fuel to the fire on Sunday, when he did not directly answer some questions about the law in an interview on the ABC program “This Week,” in particular a question about whether a florist could deny service to a gay couple on religious grounds.

“I could have handled that better,” he said Tuesday. “But going into that interview this weekend, I was just determined to set the record straight.”

Asked again about the hypothetical florist, Pence said, “This law does not give anyone a license to deny services to gay and lesbian couples.”

“I believe in my heart of hearts that no one should be harassed or mistreated because of who they are or who they love,” he added. But at the news conference, and earlier Tuesday in an interview on “Fox News,” he did not say whether he thought such discrimination would be, or should be, legal under any state law.

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Indiana law does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, but some of its cities have ordinances that do so. Gay rights advocates have argued that the state law would trump those local statutes.