Thank you Indiana!

[marylander1940]

1. Nondiscrimination protections are now the floor, not the ceiling. Getting a nondiscrimination bill passed in a state like Indiana was always an uphill battle. Now it’s a given in the media and the national conversation that the lack of workplace and housing protections is considered an oversight at minimum and more likely a scandal. There’s no need to justify the need for protections. It’s the absence of them that needs justification.

 

2. Even homophobes have to prove they aren’t discriminating. That’s why Indiana Republicans had to insert language (absurd as it may be) that explicitly states that the religious freedom law can’t be used to deny services. It’s a subtle, but major shift: the need to swear you never intended to discriminate against LGBT citizens. In the past, no one would have felt obliged to say as much, even as lip service. (Of course, let’s not forget that discrimination was the whole point of the bill in the first place.)

 

3. The “special rights” rhetoric is dead. For the longest time, granting the LGBT any kind of protection was termed “special rights.” No one used that rhetoric this time around. If anything, the Indiana law looked suspiciously like special rights for the religious right–which, of course, it was.

 

4. North Dakota (!). Just to prove how much the landscape changed in just a week, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple felt the need to send a memo to state offices saying that government discrimination against anyone is illegal. Dalrymple is trying to hold back a push by Democrats for an executive order specific to protecting the LGBT community. It’s impossible to imagine having that debate in North Dakota just a few weeks ago.

 

5. Big business has spoken with one voice. Apple, Wal-Mart, Salesforce, Angie’s List, Lilly, Cummins–the array of corporations that came out against the Indiana law and for nondiscrimination protections proved once and for all that big business is firmly in favor of LGBT rights. More to the point, they are willing to put political muscle behind it and fight the GOP, even though they are often allied with the party on economic issues.

 

More: https://blu173.mail.live.com/?tid=cmhCXtB1jd5BGYkhBgS7Liyg2&fid=flinbox

[Guest Starbuck]

Great news! And high time to cut Indiana some slack. (So what if Dan Quayle was born there? Ancient history.)

 

I went and checked a state information website (http://indianasucks.info/) but Latrina, who maintains the site, either hasn’t heard the good news or hasn’t gotten around to an update. Also, truth be told, she’s not especially good at emphasizing the positive.

 

For instance, talking about educational opportunity in the state, she says, “There is a Buttload of colleges and universities in Indiana, sadly most of the smart people leave after graduation…”

 

She is also unimpressed with what the state has to offer in the way of activities: “People generally spend most of their time working. In their leisure time they breed , mow their lawns and breed some more. Here, you are considered the Shit if you have a bunch of kids. So if you want to make a good impression on the natives, you must plop out at least 5 kids and take them everywhere you go.”

 

Considering that dim view of breeders, I think Latrina is going to be stoked at the prospect of new gay neighbors!