Hundreds protest new law in Indiana

Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS

Hundreds of people, some carrying signs reading “no hate in our state,” gathered Saturday outside the Indiana Statehouse for a boisterous rally against a new state law that opponents say could sanction discrimination against gay people.

Since Republican Gov. Mike Pence signed the bill into law Thursday, Indiana has been widely criticized by businesses and organizations around the nation, as well as on social media with the hashtag #boycott-indiana. Local officials and business groups around the state hope to stem the fallout, although consumer review service Angie’s List said Saturday that it is suspending a planned expansion in Indianapolis because of the new law.

The law’s supporters contend discrimination claims are overblown and insist it will keep the government from compelling people to provide services they find objectionable on religious grounds. They also maintain that courts haven’t allowed discrimination under similar laws covering the federal government and 19 other states.

But state Rep. Ed DeLaney, an Indianapolis Democrat, said Indiana’s law goes further than those laws and opens the door to discrimination.

“This law does not openly allow discrimination, no, but what it does is create a road map, a path to discrimination,” he told the crowd, which stretched across the south steps and lawn of the Statehouse. “Indiana’s version of this law is not the same as that in other states. It adds all kinds of new stuff and it moves us further down the road to discrimination.”

On Saturday, Pence said he’d support legislation to “clarify the intent” of the new state law. In an interview Saturday with the Indianapolis Star, the Republican governor said he’s been in discussions with legislative leaders this weekend. He expects that a clarification bill will be introduced this week.

He declined to provide details but said that making gay and lesbian Indiana residents a protected legal class is “not on my agenda.”